Castle season 9 episode 1: Aftermath
by Crashnet
Summary: Takes place after the shootout in Castle's apartment and before the happy ending. A new character comes in to investigate the shooting at the request of Deputy Chief Gates. Can she be trusted?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Castle. If I did, I would have left the shooting part out and just skip to the happy ending.**

 _So this is my take on what could have happened if we had gotten a season 9 with both of our main characters alive and well. And of course I took a few liberties. Enjoy._

The elevator doors open and LT. Jo Holliday steps out and into the hallway. She admires the style of the Broome street apartment building, but that's not the reason she's here this morning. She recalls the conversation that she had with her superior about a half hour ago. She was told to head down here and investigate the shooting of an NYPD Captain and her husband. Ambushed in their own home. She knew that she had to ask the question of how a police Captain's able to afford a place on Broome street, but she knew the answer already. Her husband, Famed author Richard Castle of the Nikki Heat and Derick Storm series. She knew a lot about these two from stories that she heard over the years. Especially when then Detective Beckett was able to arrest US senator William Bracken, a man that was going to run for President of the United States, of drug dealing and murder. It was hard not to notice that one.

Jo continues her walk down the hallway into the apartment with the rest of the uniforms and detectives are inside. She watches as she sees the Medical Examiner, Dr. Pearlmutter if she remember his name correctly form the last time she met him. standing over a body with two detectives with him. The ones that she guesses are Ryan and Esposito. They look over the body as Ryan looks up and sees Holiday for the first time.

"Can we help you?" He asks. Ryan takes one look at the new cop in the room and knows that she's brass. He think that they are not going to like this one bit. Holiday holds up her badge.

"LT. Holliday what have we got? " She really wasn't in the mood to deal with the territorial officers, she's here to do a job and she's going to do it. But she knows that she needs these guys to trust her and it's hard to trust someone when you just met them. When neither of them responded to her question she tried again. "Look, I get it, don't trust the new girl, and I don't want to step on anyone's toes here, but I was sent by your former Captain to investigate this shooting. A shooting that for all intense and purposes you two really shouldn't be investigating, but I know that this is where you need to be so if you guys give me some leeway, I'll give you yours. So I'm going to ask again, What have we got?"

Ryan knew that Holliday wasn't the type to mess around so he spoke first. "Dead guys name is Caleb Brown. He worked as a public defender." He knew he had to ignore Esposito's glare as Ryan recapped the dead guy on the floor. Holliday also noticed the silenced gun that was in Brown's hand.

"Is there any explanation as to why a public defender would come into a Police Captain's apartment with a silenced weapon?" Holliday knew the answer to that question, she was no fool. All the background that her mother gave her on this case was a must if they were going to close this whole thing. Again Ryan spoke up.

"He was working with some big time drug dealer that went by the code name Lokstat." Ryan gets another glare from Esposito, but Holliday decides to surprise them both.

"Right, Mason Wood." She got shocked look from the two of them. "I do watch the news detectives, go on." Esposito finally chimed in with a very important piece of information.

"The thing is, this guy was dead already." That was something that she didn't know.

"What do you mean he was already dead?" Her mother wasn't kidding when she said that this would be a strange one.

"We found what we thought were his charred remains in the trunk of a car the day before last. DNA test stated that it was Caleb Brown." Esposito point to the body that's in front of them. Holliday looks around the room. She sees the blood smeared all over the floor. She sees wear they were shot, where Beckett crawled across the floor to husband. She wonders how long they were there, laying in their own blood, before help arrived. That thought brought her to her next question.

"Who called 911?" She was thinking that maybe a neighbor heard the shots and called.

"That would be me Lt." The very male, robotic sounding voice echoed in the room. The group turned towards the sound of the small pyramid that sat on the counter.

"Who said that?" Holliday was making sure the sound she heard was coming from the device that was on the counter.

"I did Lt." The artificial life form responded. computer but

"And you would be?" Not liking the fact that her only reliable witness at the moment.

"Linus, home operating system. I was made aware of Mr. Castle's considerably low heart rate. And was able to call 911." Holiday still trying to wrap her head around the whole thing at the moment.

"Linus, what time did Captain Beckett and Mr. Castle arrive home?" She decides that she she's just going to go with it.

"Mr. Castle and Captain Beckett arrived home at 7:42am." The AI had informed Holliday. Esposito and Ryan were going through the apartment as they listened. Holliday had her notepad out when she asked her next question.

"Linus do you know when Caleb Brown enter the apartment?" Hoping that this thing was able to give her the information that they all desperately needed.

"An unknown person entered the apartment at 7:03 am." Ryan and Esposito look up and at each other before they looked at Holliday.

"Linus and chance you have a video of the exchange?" She knows that it's a long shot but anything that can close this case and end this whole thing would be a great help.

"There is video footage of the unknown person entering through the front door." Holliday was writing in her notepad when a though had occurred to her. She looked to Esposito.

"What time was that news report on the raid?" Esposito and Ryan looking at each other. Neither of them really sure of the answer. That is when Pearlmutter finally spoke up.

"That report was on around six thirty this morning." All three looked at Pearlmutter, Esposito with his head tilted to the side. Pearlmutter continued, "I was already up when the news broke." Holiday nods and writes in her note pad.

"Okay that means that Brown had about a half an hour between the news report and him entering the apartment. Which means he wasn't very far when he heard the report."

"Meaning that he was the backup plan if Mason couldn't get the job done." Esposito chimed in. Holliday nods and looks at the pair of detectives.

"I saw a camera outside the front door. Where are we on that?" Holliday looked at Ryan when she asked that question. From what she knew of the detective he was a little more tech savvy than his partner so she had a better chance of getting her question answered from him.

"Yeah, security's running that for us now. Video records off site and we should be getting in about half an hour." Just as Ryan answers her question, Esposito's phone goes off and he checks the message.

"What is it?" Holliday asks. Esposito looks up from his phone and looks at both Ryan and Holiday.

"That was Lanie. Beckett and Castle are out of surgery." Holliday saw the brief look of concern on both of their faces. She knows that they are torn between doing their jobs out of respect of their Captain and wanting to be there for their friends. So she makes the decision for them.

"Go. I got this." They both give her a look of uncertainty, so she continued. "Go be with your friends. I'll keep you updated. Go." Both detectives nod and walk out of the apartment. Holliday looks to the M.E. as he and his assistants wrap up the body and put it on the gurney. "This looks like it's pretty cut and dry, I'll come by later for your report." Pearlmutter nods at her.

"I'll have the initial autopsy done later this evening." He tells Holliday. She nods and Pearlmutter and his team roll the body out of the apartment. Holliday looks around the apartment as they exit. She studies the blood trail that's smeared across the floor. Picturing both Beckett and Castle crawling across the floor, towards each other. Thinking that if they were going to die, they were going to die together. Holding each other. Holliday believing that no two people shouldn't have to have those thoughts in their head. Holliday is so engrossed in thought she almost doesn't notice the older woman standing in the doorway. Almost.

"Are you sure he was the last of it?" Holliday straightens her head, turns around and faces the woman in the doorway. "Or are they going to have the spend the rest of their lives looking over the shoulder?" Rita moves from the doorway and walks towards Holliday.

"He was the last. It's over. The Agency is going to have a lot to answer for, but at least we can say that all those who were responsible are either dead or awaiting trail." Rita looks at the room and stares at the blood on the floor. "We better make sure that all this is cleaned up before they come back."

"If they decide to come back. How many times has someone broken into this apartment? Castle either needs a new security system or they need to fire their doorman." Holliday tells Rita.

"You know how these people work, Jo. In and out without ever being seen." Rita tells her. Holliday walks over to where she believes Brown was standing.

"Which is why I decided not to play the game. Spies, I get. But how does a public defender know how to break into an apartment unseen?" Holliday looks back at Rita. "Unless he wasn't really a public defender. Who was he really?" Rita walks over to the counter where Linus sits.

"We're still trying to figure that out. Wood had him completely backstopped."

"So the burned body that found yesterday morning?" Holliday's pretty sure that she knows the answer to that question, but she the cop in her needs the confirmation. Or as close to a confirmation as she was going to get.

"The man in trunk was named Caleb Brown. He was a public defender for the state of New York." Rita tells her.

"But he's not the Caleb Brown that NYPD knows. This guy stole his identity?" Holliday asks her.

"As far as we are able to piece together so far. Now that Mason Wood has been Identified, it's been a lot easier to go through his entire network. But we still don't know the true identity of this man." Rita tells her. She knows that it's something that Holliday doesn't want to hear, but it's the only answer that she can give her at the moment and Holiday knows it.

Holliday looks around the room again. Her eyes land back on Linus, who sits on the counter. Suddenly a thought comes to her. She knows it's a long shot, but she really doesn't really have much to lose. "Linus, is there any video footage you have of the shooting this morning?"

"I have no video footage of this morning but I do have an audio recording." Both Holliday and Rita look at each other. Holliday looks at Rita like she might be on to something. Rita looks at Holiday as if she doesn't know where she's heading with this.

"Can you play the audio, Linus." Holliday waits as Linus lights up, looking for and loading the audio playback that may or may not have a clue as to who the man pretending to be Caleb Brown could be.

The audio begins to play and Holliday has her eyes closed. She plays the scene out in her head as she hears the Captain Beckett and her husband's voices. Her husband wanting nothing more than to make his wife breakfast after the night that they had. Hearing him make a point that if Mason had an incinerator in his basement they why did he leave Brown's body where it could be found. She also hears something that most people wouldn't think twice about.

"Wait. What did he say? Linus, can you go back ten seconds?" The AI rewinds and plays the audio back.

"I told the old man that you would figure it out." Brown's voice is heard through the speaker. Holliday has Linus stop the recording. Rita stands there and watches as the wheels in Holliday's head begin to turn. It always intrigued her to watch work things out in her head. Rita knew that Holliday would have had a great career in intelligence, but she knew her heart wasn't in it.

"Jo, what are you thinking?" Rita finally asks her. Really wondering what in the world was going on in her head.

"He says that he 'told the Old man that they would figure it out.'" Holliday looks at Rita and realizes that she's not really following her train of thought. "Who would use the term 'old man?'"

"Someone who really has no respect for his elders?" Rita throws in, but finally realizes where she's going with this.

"Or someone who happens to be talking about their father?" Holliday was on a roll at the moment.

"You really think they're related?" Rita asks her.

"Why else fake his death to begin with? Wood was trying to save his son. It makes sense." It was the only thing that was making sense for Holliday at the moment. If Mason Wood wanted Brown dead for switching sides, he would have just thrown Brown's body in the incinerator without a trace. "Do you have Mason Wood's DNA on file?" Rita nods at her. "I'll ask Pearlmutter to run a Paternity test to be sure."

Rita's impressed with Holliday, but she never expected anything less from her. Holliday turns back towards Linus to ask him another question.

"Linus, can I get a copy of the audio file?" As she asks the question, Linus opens one side of that houses a USB port. As Holliday starts to check her pockets, Rita holds up a flashdrive. Holiday just looks at her.

"Here, take mine." Rita offers the flashdrive to her and Holliday just looks at it and then at her.

Holliday looks back at Rita as she takes her own flashdrive out of her pocket and places it in the USB port. Rita smirks and Holiday as she waits for her copy of the audio file.

"You don't trust me, Josephine?" She asks her.

"You're a spy. Of course not." Holliday says smirking back. Linus finishes uploading the audio file onto the flashdrive and Holliday takes the drive out of the USB port. She places the drive in her pocket and turns to Rita. "No offense of course." Holiday turns toward the door.

"None taken, Jo. Just make sure you get the answers you need to officially close this thing in a neat little bow." She tells Holliday as she walks towards the door. Knowing that she will, without a doubt, be able to wrap this up.

"You know I will, now if you'll excuse me, I have an investigation to finish." Holliday calls back as she walks out of the apartment and past the officer that's standing just outside the front door. Holliday looks at the office as she walks out the door. "Make sure she leaves." The officer nods and Holliday makes her way towards the elevator.


	2. Chapter 2

**Again, I do not own Castle.**

 _I had a little bit of writer's block when I started writing this chapter. I hope to God that this one came out okay. Any grammar mistakes are my own._

Esposito and Ryan rush out of the elevator and toward Lanie, Martha, Alexis and Martha waiting in the hallway. Esposito walks straight up to Lanie and hugs her.

"What have you heard so far?" Esposito asks he, still seeing the worry in her eyes.

"Just that they made it out of surgery. The doctor is supposed to come in and update us in a few minutes." Lanie tells them. Alexis who was seated in the chair by the door suddenly stands up.

"They won't tell us anything other than that they were shot." Alexis states as she stands in front of Lanie and Esposito. Ryan stands just behind everyone taking in the scene. Ryan's not really sure how they all got to this point? One minute they toasting victory and the next thing they know, they get a call stating that both Beckett and Castle were shot in their home? This nightmare should have been over. Just then a man in a white coat comes marching out of the double doors down the end of the hallway.

"Family of Richard and Kate Castle?" The doctor asks. The entire group turns towards the Doctor and Martha is the first to speak.

"How are they?" She asks. Worried all to hell. Also trying to figure out how in the world this could have happened. They were supposed to be safe.

"I'm Dr. Kovaks. I'm in charge up your son's care. He took a bullet to the upper, right side of the chest. Our main concern was the blood loss when he came in, but we got that taken care of. He is resting." The news of Castle's well being helped a little to calm the family's nerves, but they still needed to know about Beckett's condition.

"What about Kate?" Alexis was able to to get the question out how she wasn't sure. Dr. Kovaks looks at the group around him and then back to Alexis.

"Your mother's condition was a little more severe. The bullet that she took to the abdomen was lodged in her spleen and had to be removed. She too had a significant amount of blood loss and I was also worried about her heart since I treated her for a chest wound five years ago. She pulled through, but she's not out of the woods yet. We are keeping a close eye on her for the next for the next 48 hours. We are waiting on some routine blood work. But we are cautiously optimistic at this point."

Alexis is so relieved that they are okay that she doesn't even bother correcting the doctor about her relation to Beckett. She's just glad that they are going to be able to live through all of this.

"Oh thank God." Lanie finally breathes out. She keeps thinking that they can't keep scaring the hell out of all of them like this.

The look of relief that the group gives is enough for the doctor to breathe. He remembers this group from five years ago. The tension was high then as it is now and at least this time around Josh Davidson isn't here making things worse.

"Is there any way we can see them now?" Alexis asks the doctor. She knows that it's highly unlikely at this point.

"Not the best idea right now." Kovaks tells them, "I know that everyone wants to go in to see them, but they do need their rest." Ryan and Esposito nod at the doctor as he continues. Martha asks the doctor another question.

"Will the at least be able to be in the same room together?" She knows that if they can't be with them, that maybe at least they could be with each other.

"We are going to keep Captain Beckett in the ICU for now and hopefully we will be able to her and her husband into the same room sometime this evening. Right now they need to rest. I'll let you know if their conditions change." And with that Kovaks leaves. Martha thanks the doctor as he heads down the hallway. She turns to the rest of the group as Alexis stands next to her.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not going anywhere." Martha tells Alexis and the boys. Ryan and Esposito can hear the mix of terror, relief and exhaustion in her voice. Alexis paces and walks back to the boys.

"I don't understand how this happened? This was supposed to be over." Alexis states as she stands next to the two detectives. Both who want nothing more than to be able to put the pieces together and figure out what's going on.

"We're really not sure what happened." Ryan tells Alexis. As he's about to continue to reassure her that they will figure this whole thing out when he gets interrupted by Esposito.

"But unfortunately we're no longer investigating their case." Ryan knows that Esposito wanted to continue the investigation, but that he wanted to be here to.

"We weren't booted off the investigation, we're just not taking point on it." Ryan explains. He didn't know the Lieutenant at all, but he got the feeling that she wasn't going to shut them out on this. She knew that they really wouldn't be thinking straight and that they would be better off giving moral support to the family at the moment.

"Who's taking over then?" Alexis ask the boys. She wants to know what's going on and who is in charge at the moment.

"A Lieutenant Jo Holliday. She was brought in by Deputy Chief Gates." Ryan tells Martha and Alexis. "For all we know Gates just wanted someone from the outside to investigate this case." Alexis nods. She can under stand that Gates would want an outsider to investigate this whole thing.

"What do you guys know about her." Alexis asks. If someone else is investigating her father and Beckett's shooting she want to damn well know everything about her.

"Not a thing." Esposito tells her. He's still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Gates brought in an outsider for this. He knows that they should be the ones taking lead on this.

"But that doesn't mean we're going to get shut out of this." Ryan makes an attempt to reason with him, but he knows that his partner is just trying to make sense of everything. Ryan looks around the hallway and notices that there are two people missing from their group.

"Where are Vikram and Hayley?" Ryan asks Martha and Alexis. The last he knew they both came here with Martha and Alexis.

"Vikram got called into the precinct. We thought you guys were the one that called him in. And Hayley said that she was going to get a cup of coffee." Alexis tells them she now realizes that Hayley should have been back by now.

"Okay then, we'll try to get a hold of Vikram at the 12th." Ryan tells Alexis.

"Okay, we're going to get to the bottom of this. I promise, stay here at the hospital. We're going to have a couple of uniforms posted outside their room. I'll feel better if you three stay in sight."

"I don't think that will be necessary." Hayley says as she's walking towards the group from the double doors the doctor just walked through. "It looks as though that this was the last of it." She tells them as stops in front of them.

"What makes you so sure?" Esposito asks her. He still doesn't know Hayley very well and he would like to what makes her so damn confident.

"Because everyone else that was involved with Lokstat are either dead or being arraigned as we speak. The fact that Caleb Brown came out of hiding to try and finish them off tells me that he was desperate enough to end the whole thing right then and there. It's over." She tells them. What she doesn't tell is who the source was that told her. The boys didn't know about Rita and it would take too much time and energy to explain everything to them.

"Did you get that info from Lieutenant Holliday?" Esposito asks her. Wondering how she was able to the information so fast.

"Who?" She asks Esposito. She only knows one Holiday and the last she checked she was Los Angeles.

"A Lieutenant Jo Holliday came in and took point of the investigation of the shooting." Ryan chimes in, the last thing everyone needs right now is Hayley and Esposito getting into it in the middle of a hospital. And something tells him that Hayley would win.

"Jo's here?" Hayley asks them. That was a surprise. But now she wonders who sent her in.

"You know her, Hayley?" Alexis asks. She knows that Hayley has a lot of connections, but it is always something when she can always get everyone a leg up.

"For a while now. She was LAPD" Hayley tells them.

"So what is she doing here?" Esposito asks her. Why in the hell is there an LAPD cop doing her in New York?

"I'm not sure." Hayley tells them. "But in the mean time, I will go with the boys to the precinct and you three should go get something to eat because it looks like it is going to be a while before Beckett and Castle are allowed any visitors."

"Right, okay I'll take you guys to Remy's. It right down the street. I'll tell the nurse to call me if there are any changes." Lanie tells Martha and Alexis. They both nods and make their way out of the hospital.

Hayley watches the three of them exit and them turns back to the boys. Esposito is the first to speak.

"What else do you know about Holliday?" Esposito stares at her, determined to get as much information as they can get.

"She was a Sargent with the LAPD worked under cover." Hayley starts, she also knows Holliday from her time in Navy's Counter Intelligence Unit, but the boys really don't need to hear that part. "Last I heard she was working she was working a deep cover assignment." It's that last thought that bothers her though. If she was here instead of out there on that assignment, something must have gone wrong.

"Any reason Deputy Chief Gates would send her to lead this investigation?" Ryan asks her. At this point he and Esposito will take all of the information that they can get about their new Lieutenant.

"Any case she works on gets wrapped up into a nice, neat little bow that cannot be undone. If your Deputy Chief brought her in, then it's because NYPD wants to make sure that this whole thing is finished. She's good. She's very good." She hopes she can persuade the boys to calm down because she knows if they piss off Holliday… Well she knows that Holiday won't just sit back and take it. She'll make their lives a living hell.

"You trust her?" Ryan has to ask. He and Esposito really can't take many more surprises.

"With my life." Hayley tells them. It one of the few statements that she makes in her life that is the absolute truth. "We should head back to the precinct and see what she has so far."

"Okay then." Responds Esposito. As far as he's concerned that answer's good enough for him.

"Let's see what what Holliday is willing to tell us about the investigation." Ryan suggests to the two of them. Hayley and Esposito both nod in agreement and the three of them walk out of the hospital.


	3. update

For those who are still reading. I am still working on the next chapter. I am hoping to publish on Sunday night. Life seems to be getting in the way at the moment. And since I am horrible at proof reading, I was wondering if there was anyone here that would be willing to be a beta for this story.

Thanks for your patience :)

Crashnet


	4. Chapter 3

Author's Note. Here is the latest chapter. No beta this time so all mistakes are my own. I am also working on an original story for Holliday that I am doing research on and I hope that there are a few people out there show would be willing to read it.

Again I do not own Castle. I wish I did. 

Aftermath chapter 3

Holliday marches into the 12th with a mission on her hand; get as much information on this Caleb Brown as she can get. If there is any connection to Mason Wood on paper she needs to find it. And her first stop is to the tech room and enlist the help of the tech support staff.

As she walks down the hall towards the tech room she sees the looks that the other officers are giving her. She wonders if word has spread about her arrival already. But after seeing the looks that the other detectives are giving her at the moment has her thinking that they have no idea what the hell is going on.

As Holliday continues down the hall until she gets to the room that she's looking for; the tech room. Holliday enters the room and find that only two people are in the room, Vikram Singh and Tory Ellis. As the door closes, Tory looks up from her computer station and stares at Holliday leaning against the door.

"Vikram Singh?" Holliday asks as Vikram jumps and looks behind him. Tory slightly chuckles when he does. She knows that it's probably not the best thing to do but, considering the day that they have had so far, she needed something that resembled a laugh. No matter how small it maybe.

"Yes." Vikram replies. He's jumping out of skin these days. He knows that he should have nothing to worry about any more. Then Beckett and Castle got shot. He doesn't know what to believe anymore. Holliday looks at Tory.

"And you must be Tory Ellis." Tory nods. A look of concern spreads across her face.

"And you are?" Tory asks. Holliday holds up her badge.

"Lt. Holliday. I'm taking point on Captain Beckett's shooting. Are you going over the security footage of Captain's apartment?" She figures that she should start asking the questions as quickly as possible. She can clearly see that this guy is on edge.

"Yes. So far I haven't been able to find out how the hell Caleb Brown was able to get into the apartment." Tory is the first to speak. Vikram looks over at Tory trying to figure out why she would willing give the Lieutenant that information. But he's been having a hard time trusting people lately.

"How about you, Vikram? What can you tell me about Caleb Brown?" Holliday asks him as he jumps again. The poor guy is just completely agitated.

"Just that he was working at a Corporate Law firm before he started at a Public Defender's Office." Vikram finally says, realizing that he is not going to get anywhere if he stalls so he might as well tell the Lieutenant what he knows.

"So what do we know about the law firm?" Holliday asks the two techs. She makes it known that she is going to need all of the information on Caleb Brown that she can gets her hands on.

"Not much at this point. That it was upstate. That it's an extremely successful firm with ten senior partners, twenty junior partners, and thirty-five associates and staff." It was really all that Vikram had on the firm. He wonders if that information would help the Lieutenant somehow. Holliday looks at the information that Vikram had just pulled up. She knows that it's a long shot but she also knows that she needs to cover all of her bases.

"Okay then. Ellis, I need you to look up any and all information on everyone that works or worked at that firm. See if they have any connection to Mason Wood or William Bracken." Holliday tells Tory. Tory nods and gets back to work. Looking for the information to tie this whole thing together. Holliday turns back to Vikram who sits at his work station.

"Vikram, pull up all the information that you can on Mason Wood. I'm having the M.E. runs some test on a hunch. I want to know if we can gather any bit of information that we can. I want to know when and where this guy was born, where he went to school, all of it." Says Holliday, as she reaches for a card in her pocket as Vikram gets her attention before she leaves the room.

"That might be a little difficult, a lot of the intel that available was redacted. There's only so much information that I can get." Vikram replies. He wants that information as well, but he keeps getting road blocked. That's when Holliday leans in and gives Vikram the card in her hand. Vikram looks down and see a password written on it.

"What is this?" He asks. Even though he knows exactly what it is, but feels the need to ask.

"Consider it a free pass to the information super highway. Hopefully you'll get everything you need." States Holliday. She's lucky that she doesn't have to explain where she got the password. Vikram nods and gets to work. As Holliday stands and turns to leave, Vikram asks one more question.

"What if someone asks what I'm doing?" Vikram continues to work as Holliday turns back around. She shows a little smirk as she notices Ellis listening in on the conversation.

"You mean 'what if Detectives Ryan and Esposito come in asking questions?'" She knew that was the question he wanted to ask and by the look on Tory Ellis' face, it was a question she wanted to asks as well.

"Tell them that you are looking for information on Mason Wood. And that the two of you are using all available channels." Was Holliday's response. "I'm not shutting anybody out of the investigation, guys. I'm new to the city, I'm going to need all the I can get at this point." And that was the truth. Holliday has never really spent a lot of time in New York before this. And she's done a lot of map reading as of late just to get around the city. She knows that she has a lot to learn. And she needs to learn quickly if she's going to get anyway on the investigation.

Her phone starts to ring and she reaches into her coat pocket and see the M.E.'s number on the screen. She answers the phone and lifts it to her ear.

"This is Holliday." Tory and Vikram listen in on Holliday's side of the conversation. "Dr. Pearlmutter. Yes. Okay. I can be there inside of an hour." Holliday nods with the phone in her hand. "Okay, I'll see you-." Holliday doesn't get to finish her sentence Holliday as Pearlmutter hangs up on her. Holliday hangs up the phone and looks at the two techs in the room. "Is Pearlmutter always so cheerful?"

Tory makes a small chuckle and Vikram just shakes his head. Tory looks up at Holliday.

"Pearlmutter has always had that way about him. Just make sure that his personality doesn't rub off on you or anyone else."

"Good to know. He has some test results for me. I want to see if a hunch plays out. I'll keep you updated on that and the two of you keep me updated on this." Says Holliday as she walks out the door. Vikram and Tory nod and continue their assignment.

Holliday walks out the door and into the hallway. She just passes Beckett's office when the phone begins to ring. She looks around the room and sees that no one is really paying attention, so she walks in and answers the phone.

"This is Holliday." Was the Lieutenant's response. Trying to figure out who would be calling on the captain's phone.

"I was hoping that you would be the one to answer." Were the first words out of the Deputy Chief Victoria Gates' mouth. The sound of the Deputy Chief voice sends Holliday standing straight up even though she's in the room. Holliday realizes what she's doing and sits down in the chair. "I was hoping for an update on the case." Holliday hear the urgency in the Chief's voice. She wants answers and she wants them now.

"I was about to head down the Medical Examiner's office for an update from Dr. Pearlmutter." And the sooner she got down there for that update, the better. Holliday looks out the window and sees the other detectives and officers looking in and looking away. For a bunch of detectives and officers they weren't very subtle.

"I want that update, Lieutenant." Gates tells her. She needs to brief the commissioner by the end of the day and she needs Holliday to gather the intel and close this case. "I Hope I haven't put faith in the wrong person, Lieutenant. I would to tell the Chief of Department and the Commissioner that I sent in the wrong person for the job." Holliday smirks as she knows what Gates is trying to do.

"You will have you update, Chief. And I guarantee that I will have this case closed by the end of the day." Holliday tells her as she looks out the window of the Captain's office and see Detectives Ryan and Esposito walking into the Bullpen. She also notices Hayley Shipton walking in with them. Holliday looks both surprised and confused to see her since she hasn't seen her in a while.

"That's a tall order, Lieutenant. I hope you can fill it." Gates knows that she has the right person for the job, but she still needs the reassurance. Her Captain and her husband were shot in their home. And as much as she dislikes Mr. Castle, she has nothing but respect for him. And with everyone else breathing down her neck, she needs this case closed fast.

"You've seen my record Chief. You know I can." Holliday tells her "I'll keep you updated."

"I expect nothing less. Good day, Lieutenant." And with that, Gates hung up. Holliday hangs up and leans back into the seat, closes her eyes and takes a breath. She knows that she's making progress, but it's slow as molasses. She knows that she will do everything that she can to keep the promise to the Chief and close this case quickly. She opens her eyes and looks out the door and sees Ryan and Hayley standing over Esposito's desks as he shows then something on his computer. Holliday gets up from the desks and walks over to the door.

Holliday stands in the doorway and catches Ryan's attention. Hayley looks up and sees Holliday for the first time in a few years. Hayley gives Holliday the once over and saw that this is not the same young, hopeful, inexperience intelligence officer that she encountered ten years ago. She looks like she has grown into someone that knew what she doing. Hayley realized that Deputy Chief Gates picked the right person for this job.

"Detectives. Hayley." States Holliday as she walks up towards Esposito's desk. Esposito finally looks up from his desk and finally looks at the Lieutenant. And he doesn't like the fact that she walked toward them from Beckett's office. HE knows the Lieutenant means well, but it didn't mean that he had to like it.

"How are they?" Holliday asks. She sees the concern look in Hayley and Ryan's eyes and see the anger in Esposito's. Ryan's the first to speak.

"Doctor says that they'll pull through, but that they have a long way to go." Esposito looks at Ryan, still couldn't believe that he would just offer up the information like nothing. Ryan looks back at Esposito and sees the look on his face. Holliday notices the silent communication between the two of them and so does Haley. Esposito looks over to the Lieutenant and remembers what Hayley told him. If she can trust Holliday than so could they. But he also remembers that it took him a while to trust Hayley as well.

"Doctor also said that it the Captain was in worse condition that Castle. We won't be able to talk to them until tomorrow evening at the earliest." Esposito tells her. "So we figure that we try to find some sort of link between Mason Wood and Caleb Brown."

I already have Vikram and Detective Ellis on that, you can make sure you guys can dig up everything you can as well. But I do consider yourselves on call. So if another homicide comes up I want the two of you to take it." Holliday tells them. She knows how important it is for them to finish this up and she wants to give them that opportunity. But she also knows that there is no rest for the justice of others and that these two need to be out there for the greater good. "And Hayley can be the go-between." Holliday add in. She figures that they would keep each other in the loop. Hayley is about to say something when Holliday starts for the elevator.

"I'm heading to the Medical Examiner's office for an update. And I will update the three of you when I get back." Holliday doesn't even give the three of them a chance to respond as she already walks out the door. She continues on her mission to close this case as soon as she can. She walks towards the elevators and the three of them watch. Ryan and Esposito both stunned while Hayley looks on in amusement. Holliday may have been a rookie when she first met her, but that confidence was always there.

The elevator doors open and Holliday steps inside. Just before the doors close, Holliday looks back at the trio and locks eyes with Hayley. Both realizing that they have a lot of questions that need to be answered, silently communicate to each other that they will talk late. They both subtly nod to one another and the door closes on Holliday.


	5. Chapter 4

Okay I have to apologize for how long this took to post. I have been trying to reach my goal of posting once a week and I am posting every two weeks. Summer is a very busy time for me and I am so drained at the end of most days that I can't even think straight. I did the best I can to bring this update to you. I hope I can get started on the next chapter this weekend. So here is the next chapter. And I would like to give a big thanks to SpeedyMouse for being my beta for this chapter. Enjoy.

Again I do not own Castle.

Chapter 4

Holliday steps off of the elevator and walks down the hallway of the Medical Examiner's office. She notices the silence in the morgue and thinks that it is a little too quiet, even for a morgue. She walks into the examination room and finds Dr. Perlmutter finishing up the autopsy on Caleb Brown.

"So what do you have for me, Doc?" Asks Holliday, she figures that she might as well get down to business. And since Perlmutter has yet to look up from the examine table, she's made the right choice.

"So what? No hello?" was Perlmutter's response. Or maybe not, she thought.

"I figured you weren't the type for pleasantries, Doc. Do you have an official COD?" Holliday asks. Now that she sees Brown on the table, chest open and organs out on display. She stares at him and sees him as nothing. Just another body on the table. "You know other than the obvious?"

"Official COD is exsanguination due to two gunshot wounds to the chest. Captain Beckett's a better shot than Mr. Brown here." Perlmutter tells her.

"Well, he was a good enough shot to land Captain Beckett and her husband in the ICU." Responds Holliday.

"But not good enough to kill them, But knowing the two of them it would take a nuclear explosion" Perlmutter counters back. He still doesn't like Castle, but he never wanted the guy hurt in any way.

"Good point, Doc. Were you also able to get the test results on the DNA I sent you?" Holliday asks him. She really wants to know if her hunch played out. Mainly because she wants to rub it in Rita's face about the fact that her hunches are starting to pay out.

"I did It was a match. The DNA that you supplied me with was a familial match to this man we know as Caleb Brown. They are father and son." Perlmutter relays the information to Holliday. "Whose DNA was it that I matched?" he asked.

"That would be the DNA of one Mason Wood. Now the question is, do you think that we can find Mr. Brown's true identity?" is the next question that Holliday asks him.

"Well, there are a few tests that I can conduct that can determine where he's been during his lifetime." Perlmutter tells her. The only reason that he tells her this is because of the fact that he finally gets to test out one of the new toys that was just set up in his lab.

"How the hell can you do that?" Holliday had to asks because it's the first time that she's heard of something like that.

"Well, all I will have to do is pull a tooth and pulverize it. I then would use the machine back there to study the isotopes and determine where he came from." Perlmutter tells her.

"That's actually possible?" Holliday's looking at him in disbelief because she has only seen that kind of thing done in the movies.

"Yes it can be done. It'll take a few hours but it will help with your case." The Medical Examiner tells her. Holliday looks at him and then back at the body on the slab, still trying to figure out who he really is. And if this test can get her one step closer to her answers, then she's willing to do it.

"Okay then. Go for it. And call me with the results." As she turns to walk out she walks right into Dr. Lanie Parish, who still has a look of anger on her face. Perlmutter turns and sees Dr. Parish at the door and holds his hand up to stop her.

"Do not come any further, Dr. Parish. You're not supposed to be here." He tells her. He was always one for protocol and he doesn't need any tainted evidence because she decided to enter the room. Dr. Parish knows the rules. She knows that she's not supposed to be here. The case is too personal for her and she also knows that the case is in good hands with Dr. Perlmutter. Even if he really is a big pain in the ass most of the time.

"You need to go." orders Perlmutter. He's never been one to take a chance of screwing up a case. Lanie was about to take another step towards him when Holliday intervenes.

"He's got it, Dr. Parish. I was hoping I could talk to you for a minute outside." Holliday does her best to distract Lanie from the current situation and more importantly, the body on autopsy table. Lanie locks eyes with the Lieutenant and nods. She turns and walks out the door. Holliday follows her out into the hall.

Lanie steps into the hall and Holliday joins her. Her mind was still reeling from the events of the last twenty-four hours. She needed to focus on something else for and the moment and her mind went to the face of the Lieutenant in front of her. Lanie was expecting someone a little bit older than who stood before her. Someone in their early to mid-forties, not someone ten years younger than that. She wasn't expecting someone younger than her.

"You're a little young to be a Lieutenant." Was the first thing that she could say, not the best thing she could say but if was something.

"Yeah well, I get that a lot." Holliday responds with. She knows that she's a little young to be at the rank she's at now, but she's knows that she has accomplished at both the LAPD and with the Navy. And when she took this job for the NYPD she was able to take a promotion as well. "I figured you would still be at the hospital with the family."

"There wasn't much I could do. Alexis went with her grandmother back to her apartment to rest and I needed to do something." Lanie tells her as she slowly walks down the hallway. Holliday follows.

"How are you holding up?" Holliday asks her.

"I feel like I'm in a nightmare." Says Lanie as she finds the bench behind her and sits down. She leans forward and holds her head in her hands. Holliday leans against the wall in front of her.

"It's not your nightmare." is Holliday's response. She understands the doctor's pain. Her friends are hurt and there is nothing she can do. She's helpless. "Why are you really here, Dr. Parish?"

"I just wanted to make sure he was dead." She needed to see the body. She wanted to be able to tell Kate that she seen the bastard's corpse lying on the metal slab. She wanted to tell her that she got him.

"Well, he's dead. Captain Beckett's a damn good shot. This thing is over." Holliday tells her. Holliday sees the anger radiate off of her, and the fear. The fear of what has happened in the past twenty-four hours. The fear what can happen in the next few days, even the next few weeks or even months.

"What makes you so sure?" Lanie says as she looks up at Holliday. She sees the certainty in the young Lieutenant's eyes. It gives her some hope that Holliday believes that this might actually be over and done with.

"Brown would've had backup with him if it was a designated hit. The fact that it was just him tells me that it was a last desperate attempt of freedom." Holliday tells her.

"What do you mean freedom?" Holliday had more of Lanie's attention with that last statement.

"Brown, or whatever the hell his name is, wanted to disappear. He wanted to be free of this whole thing. He originally faked his death in order to do that." Holliday tells Lanie. Lanie nods in understanding.

"So the burned body from yesterday…" Lanie starts.

"Was a part of the escape plan, a plan that was supposed to end Beckett and her husband's investigation once and for all." Holliday adds, filling in the blanks for Lanie.

"But the DNA came back as Caleb Brown." Lanie was trying to wrap her head around that fact. She heard of people being able to switch dental records, but DNA was a hell of a lot harder to pull off, especially if all of your resources were seized.

"That's because the body belonged to a Caleb Brown." Holliday tells her. It was then that Lanie picked up on what Holliday had said.

"He stole the man's identity?" Lanie asks the Lieutenant. She nods in response.

"Now the question is, was he already dead when the car was set on fire or was he held captive and then killed?" Holliday asks, more to herself at the moment than to Lanie. But Lanie hears the question and decides that she can find the answer for it.

"Now that is something that I can do." Lanie says to Holliday as she stands up from the bench. Holliday moves away from the wall when her phone starts to ring. She takes out her phone, she doesn't recognize the number but the first three digits tell her that it is from 1PP. "Excuse me, I have to take this." Holliday answers the call and steps away from Lanie and moves a few steps down the hall. "This is Holliday."

"You're looking into the shooting of Captain Beckett and her husband, Lieutenant." The voice says over the phone. Holliday doesn't recognize the voice of the woman on the other end of the phone.

"Who is this?" Holliday asks. She doesn't like being messed with and right now she's starting to feel like she is being messed with.

"Someone who is taking a keen interest in the case, especially since the case involves LokSat and people that were killed because of it." the female voice on the other end tells her.

"Is there anything else that I need to be looking for?" Holliday has a feeling that the person on the other end is looking for answers as well. She can almost hear the fear in her voice. Like the woman on the other end is risking everything making this phone call.

"You need to look into the death of Assistant AG Allison Hyde and the AG task force team that was killed ten months ago." the woman tells her.

"Are their deaths connected to LokSat?" Holliday asks the woman on the other end. This was one of the reasons she quit the spy game. The cloak and dagger stuff that she had to go through always pissed her off.

"Yes and if you want another set of charges to file against Mason Wood and his associates, I would look into it." The voice on the phones tells Holliday and then hangs up. Holliday looks at the phone and then puts the phone back into her back pocket. She turns a looks back at Lanie, who was looking though a file cabinet that was in the hallway. She is more than likely looking at the file of the burned body that kick started this end game in the first place.

"Dr. Parish." Holliday get calls out and gets her attention. Lanie turns and walks back towards the Lieutenant.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" she asks as she walks with the Caleb Brown file in her hand.

"Your office dealt with the death of Allison Hyde?" Holliday asks her. Lanie had to actually had to think about it for a moment since it wasn't her case.

"It was originally ruled a suicide. Gunshot wound to the head." Laine remembers from the report that she read.

"Was your office sure that it was a self-inflicted?" There had to be a reason that the woman on the phone wanted her to take a second look at it.

"I only read the final report; I would have to take a look at the autopsy file itself." Lanie tells her.

"Would you mind looking at it for me, it might be connected to my case." Holliday informs her.

"I can pull the file for you." Lanie tells her, grateful for the distraction for the time being.

"And you can go over it at the hospital." Holliday tells her. Lanie looks up at Holliday as she continues. "You are not going to be able to focus here if you are worried about your friend. You'll feel better when you see her and then you'll be able to look through that file and see if the Medical examiner assigned to the case missed anything." Holliday has quickly learned about Dr. Parish's reputation and work ethic. She's good, very good. She's been able to find anomalies in cold cases that were able to crack them wide open. Holliday needs to keep her focused. If there's any truth to Allison Hyde's death being a murder and not a suicide.

"Okay." Is all that Lanie says. Holliday sees the exhaustion start to set in with the good doctor and decides to head out.

"I will meet up with you later at the hospital. Right now I need to check up on another lead." explains Holliday and she begins to head towards the exit. As she walks towards the stairwell, Holliday takes out her phone and dials. Holliday is the first to speak as the person on the other end answers. "It's me. I need your help."


	6. Chapter 5

Okay, I felt that I have held onto this chapter long enough. I had injured my back earlier in the year and I found it very difficult to write while on pain meds :). So here is Chapter 5, mistakes and all. enjoy.

Chapter 5

In the tech room of the 12th precinct, Vikram and detective Ellis work diligently on the assignment that they were given. Vikram still seated at his station as he goes through ever file that he could get his hand on. Ellis was still working through the photos of every employee that works or worked at that law firm upstate.

"Have you found anything yet?" Vikram is the first to break the silence in the room. As much as he likes the quiet when he's alone, it just feels awkward when there is another person in the room.

"Nothing so far, "Ellis tells him. "Just everything that you already had on him." Ellis continues to type. Ellis was getting tired of looking for the same pieces of information over and over again. She felt like she wasn't getting anywhere until a page popped up. "Wait a minute. I think I got something here. Vikram is out of his seat and rushes over to Ellis' station.

"What is it?" He knows that it has to be good, and he was also wondering why he had not found it himself.

"It's an older newspaper article about the firm that Brown worked in, his first year there as an associate." Ellis shows him the article and the photo that went with it. Ellis and Vikram look at the photo and the caption underneath it with the names of the associates from left to right. They both look at the photo of a young man in the far left corner and under his name is Caleb Brown. They young man had lighter color hair and was about a half a foot shorter than the Caleb Brown that they knew.

"So this is the real Caleb Brown," Vikram states he looks back over to his computer. "I'm going to start a new search with this image and see where I get. You should keep digging into this firm as see what else you can find. Vikram moves back to his station and begins a new search on the original Caleb Brown. Just then an another alert pops up onto his screen. "Oh my God."

"What is it?" Ellis asks as she stop what's she's doing and rushes over to his station. She looks at the image on the screen. She stands in shock as she looks at the image. Just then Ryan and Esposito walk into the room.

"What'd you guys find?" Esposito asks. Ryan stands over Ellis and Vikram as they look at the image in front of them.

"Let me put it up on the main screen." Vikram throws the image onto the main screen. The four of them look at the image that is on the screen.

"Is that who I think it is?" Ryan asks the group as they look at the image of the four young men sitting together in uniform.

"Well, you are going to have to tell me who they are." The group jumps and turns when they see Holliday standing at the back of the room. "Well, who are they?" Holliday steps closer. She stares at the photo of the four young men in the military fatigues. Esposito is the first to speak.

"Well, the guy on the far right is William Bracken. He was arrested last year for murder and drug trafficking. The guy next to him is Vulcan Simmons. He went from running the drug game in Lincoln Heights to running one of the largest up and coming drug cartels on the east coast." Ryan comes in to fill in the rest.

"Simmons was laundering money into a super PAC called Future Forward. It was how Bracken was funding his presidential campaign." Ryan finishes. Holliday nods in understanding. She had heard about the story when it had first come to light.

"Right, America's champion turning out to be a drug lord. That definitely put an end to his political career." Holliday states. She looks at the two men that stood next to Simmons in the photo. Recognizing both of them in an instant. "And that's Mason Wood." Vikram is typing away, getting more information on Wood as he can.

"Apparently Wood, worked as an Analyst for the Navy intelligence in the 80's. His cover was a lawyer during that time. I am still trying to figure out the identity of the that last man in the photo, but there is not much." Vikram tells the group. Holliday looks at the group and decides to tell them what she just figured out.

"That's Joseph Wyatt." Esposito looks back at Holliday

"The Ghost?" Holliday nods. "I thought he was just a myth."

"You are a former special forces, Detective. You should know by now that there are myths when it comes to intelligence community." Holliday tells him.

"I'm sorry, but who's Joseph Wyatt?" Ellis asks Holliday Ryan and Vikram look back at Holliday, waiting for an answer.

"He was an intelligence officer with the United States Navy," Holliday began. "He was heavily involved with the intel during Operation Cyclone in the early 80's which is when this picture was taken." Holliday continued to look at the photo. It had a long time since she seen any photo of Wyatt. Remembering where his picture sat on her grandfather desk in his study. Her grandfather held Joe Wyatt in such high esteem, even her mother admired the man. So much so that her mother named her after him.

"I heard stories about this guy." Esposito continued. "He took on an entire unit in Afghanistan. They thought that there was a whole army. It was just him. They said that they finally caught up with in 85. Insurgents had him surrounded by mortar fire. That a Napalm explosion final got him." Esposito remembered the stories that he heard when he was over there. The legends that the older officers told them about. But that's what he thought they were; legends, stories that they told them just to mess with them. How was he supposed to know that they were telling the truth? Or at least part of it?

"He was killed because someone sold him out, And I'm thinking that it was these guys." Holliday says as she points to the three in the photo. Her grandfather always knew that there was something strange regarding the circumstances of Wyatt's death. He never got over it. "It started here, with these guys. Taught them everything he knew and they killed him for it. To make a profit."

"Do you know the name of the unit they were in?" Vikram asks her. He figures that the more background he can get on these guys, the better. And now that there is no one blocking his attempts to find the information, it should be a lot easier to find.

"I don't have a clue as to which unit they belonged to, but it shouldn't be too hard to find now. Mr. Vikram let me know what you find." Holliday turns and walks out. Ryan and Esposito get up and follow Holliday out the door.

Holliday walks into Beckett's office and grabs the file on the desk. She walks over to the window and leans on the shelf as she goes over the file. She looks back at the chair that she knows she could sit in, but doesn't out of respect for the Captain and her team. As she looks through the file the door opens and in in marches Esposito and Ryan. Esposito has a look of determination on his face.

"How much do you know?" He demands. He hates when people keep things from him and needs answers now.

"I know about as much as you do, Detective. Everything I know I told you in that room." She answers him calmly.

"I think that you're hiding something." Esposito tells her straight out. He's tired of all the secrets and lies and cover ups. He wants answers.

"I get it. You're frustrated. And I don't blame you. I can't stand secrets any more than you do. It's why I left Navy intelligence. Lives were being saved, but not everyone was getting justice. Not everyone was getting answers. That's why I'm here, to get the answers, to get the truth. And you need to trust me on that." Holliday tells Esposito flat out. She could have reprimanded him for talking back to a superior officer, but she knows that everyone's emotions are high. She was about to say something else when officer Velasquez knocks on the door and enters.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Lieutenant. We have a double homicide uptown in a parking garage." Holliday looks back at the two detectives and takes the slip from the officer.

"Is there any else available?" She asks her.

"No, Staggner and Karpowski are working a pop and drop in central park. They left five minutes ago." Velasquez tells her. Holliday takes the slips and hands it to Ryan.

"I need you guys to takes this. I have Detective Ellis and Mr. Vikram continuing their background work on this case. There is nothing else that the two of you can do right now. I need the two of you to take this homicide and I promise to keep the two of you updated." Holliday instructs the two of them. Esposito looks as though he's about to say something else, but is cut off by Ryan.

"Let's go. We got this." Ryan pulls on Esposito's sleeve and practically drags him out of the Beckett's office. Holliday goes back to reading the file in her hand.

Ryan and Esposito are heading towards the elevator. Ryan's hand still on Esposito's sleeve. Esposito finally pulls his arm back from Ryan.

"Did you have to drag me out like that?" He asks Ryan.

"Yeah, I think I did. Espo, she's on our side." Ryan tells him. Ryan is as frustrated and wants answers as much as he does, but Esposito is starting to cross the line.

"She's hiding something. I don't know what, but she is." Esposito snaps back. He tired of all the games and hiding and the lies.

"If she is, she'll tell us when she's ready." Ryan replies. He has a feeling that she might be hiding something too, but thinks that it might not be relevant to the case.

"Now we have to wait because this homicide. I rather being in there getting our answers." Esposito complains.

"We she's right, there's nothing else we can do right now. Let Vikram and Ellis do their part and we will do ours. Holliday said that she will keep us in the loop and I believe her." Ryan tells Esposito. He knows that Esposito's angry, hell he's angry too. But they have a job to do and he knows that Beckett would want them to do it.

The elevator chimes and the doors open and Hailey steps out. She looks at the two of them.

"Where are you two going?" She asks them, wondering if they are heading back to the hospital.

"Crime scene. What are you doing here?" Esposito asks her. He thought that Hailey would be spending the rest of the day with Martha and Alexis.

"Martha resting in her apartment with Alexis and I wanted to see what you guys found out." Hailey explains to them. She really needed to get out of that Apartment and thought that she might be of some use here at the 12th.

"Vikram and Ellis found a connection between Bracken, Wood and Simmons." Ryan fills Hailey in. The more that she knows, the better chance of putting the whole picture together.

"Which was what?" She asks, she spent months trying to get through the fire wall to figure out LokSat's identity. And these guys seem to get the information with a few minutes. She had forgotten how good Holliday can be at getting intel.

"They were in the same unit in the mid 80's." Esposito starts be he's interrupted but Holliday when she sticks her head out the door and sees that the two detectives were still standing in front of the elevator.

"Detectives, I was hoping you would get the crime scene sometime today." Holliday steps out of the office and looks at the three that are standing in front of the elevator. Holliday walks towards them and gets a good look at Hailey. The elevator doors open and Ryan and Esposito step inside.

"Keep us posted." Was the last thing Esposito said before the doors closed on them. Holliday walks up to Hailey.

"Now you're the last person I expected to walk into a police precinct. How've you been Hailey?" Holliday says. It had been a good long while since she seen Hailey last. And it was nice to see a familiar face for once.

"It could be better." Hailey answers her honestly. The nightmare that she lived through with Castle and Beckett was enough action to last her for a good, long while. She's just hopes that this mess is finally over.

"I agree. So what did the boys tell you?" Holliday asks, knowing more than likely that that was the three of them were talking about.

"They were just updated me on the case. Mason Wood and Bracken were in the same unit?" She knew that there was a connection between Bracken and LokSat and was glad that they finally found it.

"Yeah, Joe Wyatt's unit."

Holliday stated as she hands Hailey a tablet with the image on it. Hailey looks at the photo and then back at Holliday.

"You're kidding?" Hailey looks back at the photo. Hailey studies the photo some more, to try to look for some clues as to where and when the photo was taken.

"I wish I was." Holliday takes the tablet from Hailey and enlarges the photo and zooms in on Joe Wyatt's face.

"Do Jackson and Rita know?" Hailey asks as she crosses the room and leans on the bookcase by the window. Holliday puts the tablet on the desk in front of her.

"That their training officer was probably killed by his protégée? Probably not, but I wouldn't put past them to have this place wired." Was her response. She knew how those two operated better than anyone.

"They're not watching this place." Hailey tells Holliday, it was the truth.

"No, they just sent you in to keeps an eye out on Captain Beckett and her husband." Holliday tells Hailey. Hailey just looks at Holliday and the way she said her Beckett's husband. In that moment Hailey realized that Holliday has no idea about the connection between Rita and Castle. She almost wants to tell her about it but knows that it's not her place to tell. Another secret for her to keep from someone.

"Rita's been tracking LokSat since the Gemini data breach last year. She was in the middle of that investigation when Beckett just fell into the mess when her old AG team was killed." Hailey explains

"The bodies just keep piling up on this case. Don't they, Hailey?" Holliday walks over to the chair in front of the desk and drops herself into the seat.

"Well, in the business of secrets and intel there usually are a few unfortunately." Hailey walks over and sit in the other chair next to Holliday. "What happened in Los Angeles, Jo?" A look of actual concern on her face. She always worried about Holliday, the same way she has always worried about Alexis.

"Too much." Was the only response Holliday was willing to give Hailey at the moment.

"Well, you picked a hell of a day to start working for the NYPD." Hailey states as she sits in the chair next to Holliday.

"Between this and the strange phone call that I got today, it's been interesting." Holliday looks out the window and sees the sun peeking through the blinds. The late afternoon had become evening and she didn't even realize it.

"What phone call?" The last statement had Hailey wondering why there was still some cloak and dagger elements to this case still.

"Someone called and asked me to look into the death of Allison Hyde." They said that the death was connected to this case." Holliday explains.

"She was investigating the deaths of Beckett's former AG team last year. Vikram ended up connecting Hyde to a group of mercenaries that tried to kill him and Beckett. They found her dead with what looked like a self-inflicted gunshot to the head." Hailey explained to her.

"Well, our mystery caller wanted me to look into it. She thinks that there is more to the story. I had Dr. Parish pull the file. Do you know why the AG team was killed?" Holliday asks her. She figures the more she learns about this past case, the more it will help her put this current case together.

"Vikram has more information, but Beckett had put in a keyword search on Senator Bracken two years ago and last year a hit came up. Most of the file was redacted and he just forward it to her old AG team. The next you know; they are all dead." Hailey tells her.

"Did he ever say what was on the memo?" Holliday asks. It was then Vikram comes into the office with his tablet in his hand.

"Not much, most of the memo was redacted and the word LokSat was written in the margin." Vikram overheard the last part of the conversation that Holliday was having with Hailey. He probably figured that Esposito would not be a fan of him offering up information, but he knew that Hailey trusts Holliday and that was good enough for him. "And I found something in connection with that. Take a look." Vikram hands her a tablet with an email.

"What am I looking at?" Holliday looks at the email in front of her Hailey looks over her shoulder.

"This was an encrypted email that was sent to Mason about five minutes after I got the initial hit on Beckett's search." Vikram begins, he then swipes to the next screen. "This is another encrypted email sent to another address. Now it is going to take some time to decrypt the two emails but I was to trace that email back to the original hit squad that took out the Agent McCord and the rest of her AG team. Holliday flips back and forth between the two emails.

"How long before you are able to break the encryption?" Holliday knows that these emails are the smoking guns that she's been looking for. She knows that she needs every single piece of evidence to lock the bastard up and throw away the Key.

"Honestly, no idea. The encryption in the emails could take forever without the encryption key." He tells Holliday. Vikram knows that it is not the answer she wants to here, but he figured that it would be easier to keep her informed of what's going on. And he knows that he can break the encryption, he just needs some time.

Holliday hands Vikram back the tablet. "Keep at it. I'm going to call in some reinforcements to help with the encryption." Holliday was about to pick it up when it began to ring. "This is Holliday." She responds.

"Did you find the information that you needed?" The cryptic voice on the other end is the same from before. Holliday snaps her fingers at Vikram and tells him to trace the call. He jumps and rushes out of the room. Hailey walks over to Holliday as she puts the phone on speaker.

"I'm still looking into it." Holliday informs her anonymous caller. Hailey looks at her and mouths her to keep the caller on the line. Holliday looks back at her with a look on her face that says "I know how to do my job."

"You should be looking into Allison Hyde's financials as well." The voice continues.

Holliday ends up with a look on her face that says 'why is the person telling me what to do?' Vikram then reenters the office with his tablet and a signal connector attached to the end of it.

"And why would I do that?" Holliday hopes that she can keep the caller on the line long enough to trace the damn call, but she knows that she is dealing with a professional.

"Because if you did you would have notice that the money in her accounts were added after her body was found. Not everything is as it seems." The voice tells her. Holliday could swear that she almost hears a hint of desperation in the voice.

"What's in it for you?" Holliday asks as a thought enters her head. Hailey sees the wheel in her head begin to turn as she asks the caller the question. Vikram moves his hands in a circular motion, telling Holliday to keep her talking. Holliday wants to roll her eyes at him, but focuses on the caller instead.

"Justice for McCord's AG team. That's all this is about. Too many people have been suffering at the hands on Mason Wood. He needs to be held accountable." Was the caller's response. Holliday and looks up at Vikram and mouths to her that he needs another twenty second to trace the call. Holliday knows that there is no way that they are going to get the location.

"Justice. That's all you want?" Holliday asks her.

"If you don't believe me you can see for yourself. Meet me at the Jersey state parking garage in three hours. You can bring Miss Shipton if it makes you more comfortable." And with that the caller hung up. Holliday looks at Hailey and then back at Vikram who shakes his head. All three look out the window, but knew that weren't going to see anything. Holliday looks at Vikram.

"Were you even close to a location, Vikram?" Hailey asks him. She's at least somewhat hopeful that the computer tech was able to get something out of the whole exchange.

"I had it pinned down to the tristate area, but that was as far as I got." Vikram tells her. They both look at Holliday as she looks out the window. "What do you want to do now, Lieutenant?"

"Something I haven't done for years." Vikram looks at Holliday in confusion while Hailey gives her a knowing look.

"Which is what?" He asks, somewhat afraid to know the answer. Holliday turns around and faces them.

She hated the game, it's why she got out of it. It didn't matter to her how good she was; her heart wasn't in it. Not like Rita, not like Hunt. Even Hailey still enjoyed it from time to time. But she had no choice at the moment, she had to play the game, and she knew just where to start. "Play spy."


	7. Chapter 6

After many attempts of up loading, and months of writing this out. I present to you the latest chapter. There will probably be two, maybe three more chapters in this story. I am currently working on a stand alone story of Holliday that I do plan on publishing. All mistakes are mine, I will probably go back and fix them later. In the meantime, enjoy.

I DO NOT OWN CASTLE, I just own Lt. Jo Holliday.

Aftermath Chapter 6

The setting was already setting when Esposito and Ryan arrived at the crime scene. The parking garage was surrounded by police cars. Ryan is on the phone as they get out of their car. Esposito starts to put on his gloves as Ryan gets off the phone.

"What did Alexis say?" Esposito asks him. He tries to focus to the task at hand, but after what Vikram discovered earlier, he's finding it difficult to do so.

"She said that Castle is still under sedation and that they still haven't moved Beckett from the ICU yet." Ryan informs him. Alexis didn't give him any other information on her dad and Beckett, and he was hoping that nothing else has happened.

Both detectives must compartmentalize for the time being as they walk closer to the crime scene. Esposito happens to look up and notices which medical examiner is standing over the body. "Oh great. Morgan's on this one." Esposito rolls his eyes as Ryan follows his gaze towards the ever-eccentric British M.E. and his freakishly tall assistant.

"Come on, he's not that bad." Ryan reminds him about the last time these two had to deal with him. Which was a few months back when the good doctor had made fun of Esposito's wardrobe without him realizing it until Castle had pointed it out to him. He's hated him ever since.

"Not that bad? Do you remember what he said about me?" Ryan just smiles back.

"He didn't say anything to you, he complimented me on my suit." Ryan can see that Esposito is getting more irritated the closer they get the Dr. Morgan and the body, he decides to have a little more fun.

"Yeah, then looked at me and said nothing." Esposito couldn't believe the nerve of this guy. Ryan just kind of smiles, happy for the distraction.

"Well, maybe if you didn't treat every day as casual Friday." Ryan says to Espo, deciding to have some fun at his friend's expense.

"Wait, you have a problem with the way I dress?" Esposito stops and looks at Ryan.

"I didn't say that." Ryan realizes that Esposito is giving him the same look that Jenny gives him when he's in trouble at home. "It's just… would it kill you to wear a tie every occasionally?" Ryan just turned and walked right up to Dr. Morgan as he stood next to the car with the body still inside.

"Detective Ryan, good to see to see you again." Dr. Morgan turns and faces the two detectives.

"What have you got, Doc?" Esposito asks as he stands behind Ryan.

"Well, what we have is an unidentified adult male, about 35 to 40-years-old, who has been slashed from ear to ear." Dr. Morgan relays the information to the two detectives as they both look at the body and the crime scene. They see that the body has been drained of blood, and as they look at the interior of the car they notice something else; no blood.

"Bled out where?" Esposito asks. He leans in closer to the body and looks at the floor, there's nothing. No blood dripping from the neck, nothing on the car floor. Not one drop.

"Now that is the question, detectives." Dr. Morgan looks at the body in front of him, he sees the clean cut across the victim's throat. No hesitation marks, nothing but a straight clean cut across the neck.

"Any chance you got a time of death, Doc?" Ryan asks the M.E as Esposito looks around the car. This case already took a turn as soon as they got there. Castle would love this case.

"Well, based on the level of levity that has set in, I would say anywhere between ten to twelve hours ago." Dr. Morgan informs the boys. "I'll know more once I get the body back to morgue."

"Okay. Thanks, Doc," Ryan nods and walks around the car with Esposito as Dr. Morgan prepares to move the body. Ryan starts to compare notes with Esposito. "So, we have a dead guy in a car. No wallet, no ID."

"Not even sure if it's his car." Esposito interrupts Ryan who just looks back at him. "The license plates are fake, there's no VIN number on the vehicle, and no registration on the car."

"We couldn't get a simple 'Bill shot Phil over Jill' case?" Ryan asks him.

"I'm just not in the mood to deal with this. The sooner we can get an ID on this guy, the better." Esposito looks around the parking garage to see if he could find any traces of the primary crime scene. "Let's start checking the surrounding buildings for our primary crime scene." Ryan nods in response and they begin their search.

In an empty New Jersey Parking garage, Holliday and Hailey stand in the center of the third level. They have waited for over an hour already and Holliday was starting to lose her patience.

"Well, I have officially reaffirmed the conclusion that I came to a long time ago." Holliday looks around the darkened garage.

"Which is what?" Hailey asks.

"That I absolutely hate playing spy." Hailey laughs at Holliday's answer. "It's not funny, Hailey. Standing around and playing the waiting game is not my idea of fun."

Hailey shakes her head and asks, "And sitting at a console for twelve hours a day is?" Hailey knew how valuable Holliday was as an analyst, but she was a natural intelligence operative. She always thought that it was a waste of talent and always tried to get her into the field when she could.

"I didn't just sit at a console," Holliday states, "I processed the information and put a puzzle together. Something that I can do more effectively as a cop."

"And you couldn't do that out in the field as an agent?" Hailey asks her. Knowing full well that there was a chance that she was going to sidestep the question.

"Too many variables when you're out in the field. You can't focus on the overall problem if there is someone shooting at you." Holliday's statement made Hailey turn towards her old friend.

"Name one time you were shot at?" She asks Holliday. Holliday just looks back at her as if she's just asked a very loaded question. She did.

"Let's see, there's was Paris, Spain, let's not forget Prague…" Holliday starts off with as Hailey just shakes her head. Holliday continues, "And let's not forget the parking garage in London; I was being shot at and chased down by a car."

"I think you're exaggerating a bit." Hailey tells her. She knows that Holliday had a few close calls, but not to the extent that she's been describing.

"I had to jump from the third floor into the Thames River." Holliday stops and looks at her. Not believing for one second that Hailey forgot that part of the story. Considering that Hailey was the one who got her out of the river.

"It wasn't the third floor." Hailey assures her. She remembered that day fairly well, and she's certain that she didn't jump from the third floor of the parking structure.

"Excuse me, I think I would remember which floor I jumped from." Holliday was quick with the response. "I wrecked my phone during that whole thing. I had just gotten it too."

Hailey just laughs at her "Why are you always worrying about your phone?" Holliday just looks at her.

"You know, I don't begrudge you on your coping mechanisms." Holliday was already losing her patience and if Hailey was going to keep this up, she wasn't going to be held responsible for her actions. But at least she was going to try to calm herself down. "I'm going to walk around the perimeter one more time." Holliday was about to step away when another figure appeared in the shadows.

"That won't be necessary, Lieutenant." Holliday and Hailey stop and face the female figure hiding in the shadows. Holliday rolls her eyes.

"Are you kidding? Could you be any more of a cliché? Did you show up in a black SUV as well?" Holliday knows that she should press her luck, but she really couldn't help herself sometimes.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Lieutenant. I have the information you need to lock up LokSat and throw away the key." The figure tells them from a distance.

"What makes you think your information is that valuable?" Hailey asked. They already had enough to charge him and the rest of his associates where there's no way out for them.

The figure holds up a small flash drive into the light for the two of them to see. "The encryption key for the emails that Vikram is in the middle of deciphering now." Hailey and Holliday both look at each other and thinking the same thing; if Rita and Jackson aren't bugging the 12th, then this person is. Holliday had already begun to lose her patience about an hour ago, so she was not in a mood to play games.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Hailey had asked as Holliday began to walk a few steps towards the woman.

"Because she has to trust us." Holliday says. She stands about ten feet from the figure in the shadows. "She wants to get her life back. Isn't that right, Agent McCord?" Holliday wished that she could see Hailey's reaction because it really didn't take too long for Holliday to figure out who the woman in the shadows was. "You might as well come out of hiding, I know it's you."

The woman hesitates in her first step and slowly walks into the light. With her wavy hair tied back revealing the already healed burn scars on her face.

"How did you know it was me?" The shocked look on the former AG face; she was impressed but terrified at the same time. She had been extremely careful covering her tracks, not wanting to get killed. She had spent the last ten months trying to find anything that would bring down that bastard that killed her team and almost killed her. Ten months hiding in the shadows because she didn't know who she could trust. She wasn't even sure if she could trust Beckett. And this one figures it on in only a few hours. It makes her wonder if LokSat knew she was alive.

"Our last conversation. You may have been able to disguise your voice, but the cadence in your speech pattern was still the same. To me, that is just as distinctive as a fingerprint." Holliday had spent hours going over Beckett's case files on LokSat and on the AG team that was killed. Hours listening to Beckett and McCord's interrogations on audio and video. Looking for anything else that would help with the case. "We're here to help, Rachel."

"I don't know that. For all I know you work for LokSat?" McCord tells her. Paranoia has crept up into her mind during the last ten months. McCord draws her weapon and Hailey draws hers. "How do I know the two of won't just shoot me and run?"

"Because that's not how I work and you know it. We're here to help, Rachel." She needs McCord to trust her. The last thing that Holliday needs right now is a standoff.

"I want believe that. But I need to be sure." McCord tells her.

"I think you do believe it, McCord. Otherwise, you wouldn't have reached out to me. If that flashdrive does what you say it does, then Mason Wood will get what's coming to him. Let me have it," Holliday gestures to the flashdrive in McCord's hand. "And you'll get your life back." Holliday really wants to defuse the situation before it escalates.

"I would listen to her, Rachel. She on your side." A voice says behind the group. All three turn as Rita steps out of the shadows. Hailey and McCord are both surprised to see her as Holliday is just about ready to just roll her eyes. Again.

"What are you doing here, Rita?" McCord asks. Hailey was surprised that McCord knew her at all.

"Making sure that no one here gets hurt. Now could you do me a favor and stop pointing your gun at my daughter please?" Rita asks McCord and McCord puts the gun away. Hailey moves and stands next to Holliday as she puts her weapon away.

"You called your mother?" Hailey asks, surprised that she would do such a thing.

"We're in an abandoned parking garage in New Jersey. Alone. In what is probably the most stereotypical spy scenario that I could possibly think of." Was Holliday's response. She may seem like she's a risk taker, but she looks at every angle like it was a chess board. She doesn't like being unprepared. Which was surprising since her ancestor was a maverick and took risks all the time. "Now that everyone is calm, can we get back to the reason why we are here?" McCord nods and hands Holliday the flashdrive. Literally putting her fate into Holliday's hands.

"You got this?" Was all McCord asked. Holliday nods. McCord continues, "I want to go home."

"I'll make sure you will." Holliday tells her. She knows what's on the line. She knows that McCord wasn't going to come out of hiding unless she was sure that it was absolutely safe to do so. McCord nods to Holliday and then to Rita and Hailey and then walks away. The sound of her footsteps fade after a moment. Holliday turns to Rita and Hailey. "Well, that was dramatic."

"That's the game, Jo. You know that." Rita reminds her. There's a reason that the stereotypes exist in the first place.

"How is it that you know McCord?" Hailey beats Holliday to the question. She starting to wonder how much she could trust Rita herself.

"I met her once on a case about twelve years ago." Was Rita's response. McCord was pretty much a rookie back then. A lot of promise back then. And when this is all over she'll hopefully still have a career. Holliday looks at Rita.

"She must have made quite an impression." Hailey states.

"She did." Rita looks at Holliday. Let's hope that McCord didn't lose her touch." She looks back at Holliday who is looking at the flashdrive in her hand. Holiday stares at the object in her hand. Hoping that this would help put the final nail in LokSat's coffin. Holliday puts the Flashdrive in her front pocket and turns to the two women.

"Let's finish this."


	8. chapter 7

okay i know it has been awhile since i last posted. my computer crashed on me while i was working on this and was barely able to retrieve it. so here it is, mistakes and all, chapter 7.

Aftermath Chapter 7

Ryan and Esposito stood in the elevator, with two uniformed officers, as they went to clear the next floor of the building. Ryan checks his phone and Esposito looks over his shoulder to see it.

"Anything from Alexis?" Esposito asks. They have been checking and clearing every floor searching for their primary crime scene.

"Nothing yet, I'll give her a call once our shift ends." Ryan answers The doors to the elevator open and all four step out. The uniformed officers started their part of the sweep.

"We should probably head over to the hospital and check up on them when we're done here." Esposito adds. He figures that It wouldn't taken too much longer to search the building. Ryan sees an apartment door open slightly, and knows that their day has just gotten longer.

"I think you may have spoken too soon, Javi." Ryan points to the door at the the end of the hall and Ryan and Esposito have have the officers stack up behind them. Esposito called out.

"NYPD! Anyone here!?" When the detectives didn't hear an answer, Esposito called again. "We're coming in." Esposito opens the door wide open and All officers march in, clearing the apartment. Once the officers began to clear the apartment the detectives looked around the apartment and realized that they found their primary crime scene: Cutting tools all over the floor and a giant impression on the floor.

"We must have interrupted the clean up." Ryan states as he see a industrial size bottle of bleach and a scrub brush near the coffee table.

"Detectives! There's something back her that you need to see." Said one of the uniformed officers. The detectives walk into the back bedroom of the apartment. once they entered the bedroom, they were shocked at what they saw: All over the back wall of the room were photos of their victim and an unidentified female. Looking at the photos on the wall, the woman in the pictures was the theme in all them.

"I think we have a bigger problem on our hands" States Esposito as he looks at the wall.

Back at the twelfth, Vikram and Ellis were still working on the computer files. Vikram working through the encryption Ellis looking at everything that she could find on "Caleb Brown" and found a few more files, but not enough to connect them to Mason Wood, at least not yet. Hailey is also looking through some of the files as well when Holliday walks into the room talking to Ryan on the phone. "Okay, keep me posted, detective." Holliday hangs up the phone and takes a deep breath and let it out quickly. Hailey looked up.

"What happened?" Holliday looks at Hailey as the rest of them look back at her.

"Ryan and Esposito found the primary crime scene and it looks like we might have a possible abduction on our hands." Holliday looks at Ellis. "Ellis, I might need you to help them out when they come in. so continue on this until they get here." Ellis nods and continues to work at the computer. Vikram's computer beeps as the encryption key finally does its job and Vikram finally has access to the information that they need. Hailey, Ellis, and Holliday stopped what they were doing and gathered around the screen.

"Here we go." Vikram states as he goes through each of the files. "Let's see what we go here." He finds the a document and brings it on the main screen. "Well, this is the unredacted version of the document that I sent to McCord ten months ago. It's a shipping manifest for the R.M.S Bentley and Captain Ziering. Something here that looks like a separate manifest from was the original shipment." Holliday reads through the report. She's wondering why this is the first time she's heard about this. Holliday looks at Vikram and asks.

"Why am I only hearing about this now?" Vikram looks back at her and see that she doesn't look happy. Hailey decides to help him out.

"If this is the first time anyone has actually seen this file unredacted. You got to cut the man some slack." Hailey knows how thorough Holliday is, but sometimes she toes the line a bit much.

"I don't like surprises." Holliday decides to move on. "Do we know where the Bentley and Captain Ziering are now?"

"Looks like The Bentley along with Captain Ziering will be pulling into port in the next three to four hours." Responds Vikram as he pulls up the ship's GPS up onto the screen. Holliday nods.

"Okay then. Can you bring up all the reports on the Bentley from when Ziering took command until now?" Vikram nods and pulls up the reports onto the drive. "Okay, now I need to see the inventory lists on all the shipping supplies. Vikram brings brings up a list very quickly. "You brought that list up oftly fast there, Vikram." Hailey looks over at Vikram and smirks as does Ellis.

"Beckett and I were already looking into the Captain's financials during murder investigation a few months back." He knew that he had to tell her or she was going to yank it out of him. He had done a background check on Holliday, and it was safe to say that she is a force to be reckoned with. After going through that background check, he knew better than to keep anything from her.

"Was it related to LokSat?" was all Holliday asked. Vikram nods.

"The victim had a packet of Heroin in stomach worth $30,000. We traced the drug signature to back to LoKSat. The Crew members on board we less than cooperative when Beckett and Castle we investigating. They still caught one of the crew members on video chasing the victim. He ended up pleading out. We traced the drugs back to a warehouse that was incorporated by Brown." Holliday looks at him.

"And he wasn't brought in because the drugs were gone at that point." Holliday infers and Vikram nods. "Beckett was only able to do so much with the info she had. We had to wait until we had something concrete in order to move forward."

"Which was just recently, I'm guessing." Holliday states and Hailey nods with Vikram.

"It wasn't until a about a week ago Mr. Brown provided Beckett with a cell phone about a week before their shooting." Hailey chimed in.

"So, he played Beckett and her husband, making them believed that he had switched sides, fakes his death and hopes that they die in shootout so he can disappear?"

"But, Mason Wood came in and saved them when I lost sight of them during the shootout. WHy save them if he was just going to kill them anyway?" Hailey asks.

"Mason wanted to know what they knew about his operation, and who else knew." Ellis adds in. Then Holliday adds in the terrifying thought that no one else wanted to say out loud.

"He needed to know how many more people he needed to kill to keep his operation going. And by my guess that was the two of you," Holliday gestures to Hailey and Vikram. "Detectives Ryan and Esposito…" Holliday is interrupted by Hailey.

"And Castle's mother and daughter." Holliday looks back at Hailey.

"That would have been a hell of a mess to clean up. You think I can tac on four count of attempted murder on him?"

"I don't see why not? The bastard had Castle tied up and started pumping him for information as soon as he got there." Holliday never heard such anger tone come from her before. Apparently Castle means more to her that she's letting on. And that's a first for her.

Vikram also has pulled up information on another set of files. "What a minute, what's this?" Vikram began to pull up file after file and throwing them up onto the screen.

"Vikram, what am I looking at?" Holliday stares at each of the files as they are thrown up onto the screen.

"Everything, from his business dealings here and overseas, to his receipts used for his detective agency. Which from what I can tell was being used to launder his money from his drug trafficking operation." Vikram pulls up the file that connects the Bentley to the G.D.S.

"G.D.S.?" Holliday is surprised to see that logo pop up here of all places.

"The 'Greatest Detective Society',' Hailey starts but is interrupted by Holliday

"I know who they are, I had to deal with the members and a few wannabes when I worked for LAPD. Never met Wood though. The others are irritating as hell."

"Well, Wood was the director of the L.A Chapter. He had Castle and another PI solve the murder of a member. Castle solved it first and was offered a spot in G.D.S."

"And he didn't take it." Stated Holliday. She didn't know much about Castle, but she knew enough about him to know that he wouldn't just take a job like that on impulse. Not if he had a life here.

"He didn't want to be separated from Beckett." Hailey added in. She's seen the devotion Castle has to his wife. Holliday begins to understand a little bit more about the mystery writer.

"Okay then, I'm going to need a copy of all this, so I can present it to Deputy Chief Gates and the rest of 1PP." Holliday looks at Ellis as she gives her the order. She then faces Hailey and Vikram. "And I need you two to get me everything you can on the R.M.S. Bentley, Captain Ziering, and his crew. I want to who has worked for him the longest and who is the closest to him. I also need his location so I can have a federal Judge issue him and his crew warrants for their arrest." She knows she can get these guys to cooperate if she can tie them all to the murder on the cruise ship and to the drugs. Then, Officer L.T. pops his head into the room.

"Lieutenant, there's a call for you on line two." and just like that, L.T. pops his head right out as Holliday reaches for the phone.

"This is Holliday. Yes, sir. I understand, sir. On my way." Holliday hangs up the phone and turns the the group. "That was Gates, I have a meeting with her a 1PP to give her a full update. Ellis, go with Karpowski and greet our friendly Captain with an arrest warrant when it gets here." Ellis nods and Holliday makes her way out of the room, towards 1PP, and hopefully be able to explain this whole thing to the Deputy Chief Gates and make it make sense.


	9. Chapter 8

I know that it's been a while since I last posted. But my computer crashed and it's very hard to write a chapter when you have no computer to do so. I am hoping to get one real soon. And I'm hoping to get this finished. There's only about a few more chapters to go and this is the chapter with a lot of exposition. There is really no way around this, so you are going to just have to bare with me.

And i do not own Castle.

Chapter 8

Holliday enters the first floor of One Police Plaza, she gets off of her phone and walks straight to the front desk. Before Holliday has a chance to say anything to the clerk at the front desk, a voice from the elevator calls her attention.

"Lieutenant." Deputy Chief Gates walks up to her with a stride that would make the a professional boxer cower in fear. "I hope you have some good news for me." Gates was never one to beat around the bush. She wanted answers, and she wanted them now. Especially since she not over her bosses breathing down her neck, not to mention that she really is wondering why one of best is laying in a hospital bed alongside her husband right now.

" Actually yes, I do." Was Holliday's response. Although this is her first time entering One Police Plaza, this is not her first formal hearing. It's never fun having to head to headquarters needing to give an explanation as to way. Gates leads her to the elevators.

" So how bad of a PR problem are we going to have?" Is the first thing Gates asks as the enter the elevator alone. Right to the point.

"Not as bad as other agencies at this point. They've got extremely fair amount of egg on their face and they can't cover it up."

"How was it that they didn't know what was going on right under their own nose?" Gates was still trying to figure out that last part.

"Mason Wood was very good at what he did. He was trained by the best."

"Well, I'm going to need you to explain that to the Commissioner and the rest of his staff. They're waiting in the conference room." Gates tells her. Holliday already looks at her with an expression that states that that would not be the best idea. "Is there a problem with that, Lieutenant?"

"I think we should settle on the side of caution and have this discussion in the war room, Chief. Too many people would go far and wide to get at that information." Gates nods, takes out her phone, and presses the button for the top floor.

The elevator doors open to the top floor and Deputy Chief Gates steps out, followed by Holliday. She's been through enough of these situations to where she shouldn't have a problem handling the questions. In the last few hours, she had gathered all of the information that she needed. They go and enter the war room with the Commissioner Frank Reagan and his staff waiting inside. They enter and the door closes and locks behind them. Reagan stands and shakes Holliday's hand.

"I appreciate you coming in on short notice." Was all the commissioner had said when they sat down.

Holliday sits in between Commissioner Reagan and Gates. She looks back at the Commissioner and says, "And I appreciate you for changing our meeting place. I didn't want to run the risk of anything being prematurely leaked to the press." Holliday looked around the control room. She found this room interesting. No outside electronic devices can listen in and no one would be able to slip out. No leaks, no inside scoops, all of this used for the sole purpose of keeping everyone from mass panic, to keep everyone safe as humanly possible.

"So can you tell me the reason why I have one of my precinct Captains and her Husband lying in a hospital beds with gunshot wounds?" Was the first question.

Holliday looked at the Commissioner, took a deep breath, and began her list of accounts. "Captain Beckett and her Husband's shooting is connected to the arrests that she and the other officers of the 12th made last night. The shooter, who was known as Caleb Brown."

Gates looks at Holliday and the Commissioner intently, hoping that Holliday would finally being able to get a grasp of what exactly was going on.

"Right, and from the look of things, Captain Beckett stumbled upon a large drug trafficking ring ten months ago when she received a phone call from Vikram Singh, an analyst that was on her former AG investigation team."

"Do we know what the call was about?" Reagan asks.

"It was a distress call." Holliday Began, "Captain Beckett had started a search two years ago on former Senator Bracken when she was still at the AG office. Apparently, it took two years to get any type of a hit. The analyst forward it to the team and the team was killed twenty-four hours later in a crash."

"Do we know what information was found?" Was Gates' question.

"It was a memo with his name on it, but it had a note written in the margin that said LokSat."

"What's LokSat?" Both the Commissioner and Gates had a confused look on their faces, clearly this was the first time that they heard the name.

"LokSat is Mason Wood, or at least the man who know as Mason Wood."

"The man that was arrested last night?" Was Gates' next question.

"Yes,and he was Bracken's partner in the drug trafficking ring. He worked as a CIA analyst from the late 60s all the way to the 80s. He was the reason Bracken was able ship the drugs into the country from the middle east without being detected."

Commissioner Reagan asked the next question. "Do we know how he was bringing in the drugs?"

Holliday answered "By cruise ship, Commissioner. They were less likely to be searched. He was currently using one called the Bentley. It appears that Mr. Wood had a long standing relationship with Captain Ziering and some crew members."

"What do you mean, Lieutenant?" Gates asked, wanting some clarity to her statement.

"Further background check into Captain Ziering showed that there were a few crew members that worked with him on other cruise ships with several different companies. The captain would ship the drugs in, a man named Vulcan Simmons would sell and distribute, and the money would be laundered through Bracken's campaign fund called Future Forward and Mason Wood would get a substantial cut for the whole thing." Both the Commissioner and Gates eyes shot up at both Vulcan Simmons and Future Forward. Gates was starting to get a clearer picture of what was going on.

Holliday continued, "Once the Analyst looked at the file, he forward it to the AG team leader, Rachel McCord. The following day her team member to were killed in car crash."

"That's not a coincidence." The Commissioner stated.

"No it's not, and Mr. Singh didn't think so either, which is why he called Captain Beckett for help. And after they were able to get some assistance from someone outside a government agency that was also investigating McCord's AG Team's death."

"Which one?'

"The state department, at least that's the 'official' story." Holliday smirks.

"Great, just what we need, more spooks hanging around my city."

"The spooks are gone, Commissioner, that I can promise. They left when Mason Wood and his associates were arrested last night. " Holliday informs them. The agency has too much egg on their face for them to ignore what has happened. THe fact that one of their own has been doing this under their noses for so long. There was no way that they were going to stay in the shadows this time. There was too much for them to answer for.

"Do we have a status on the Captain of the Bentley?" Gates had asked.

"I have detectives and uniforms in route to apprehend Captain Ziering and his crew as we speak." Holliday knows that there's a chance that the Captain and his crew have no idea what's transpired in the last 24 hours and that when they do, there might be willing to save themselves and cut a deal.

"So Lieutenant, my question to you right now is, is this over? Do we have to worry about anyone else coming after one of my Police Captains?" Reagan wanted to be sure that there wasn't going to be any retaliation, because the last thing he needed was someone else declaring war on the NYPD. Reagan had met Beckett only a few times, but knows exactly what kind of cop she is and what kind of determination she has when it comes to advocating for the victims. He also knows that Beckett is the kind of cop that will put herself on the line. And will piss off a few people in the process.

"Commissioner, in my opinion, this matter is closed. If they're smart, they'll plead out." It was all that they could do now. Everything was stacked against these people and there was nothing that they could do about it.

"Well if that's the case, I am glad to hear it. I don't need anymore of this cloak and dagger nonsense going on in my city. Lieutenant, I hope to have your full report on the matter soon."

"You will have at the end of the week, Sir." Holliday says as she and Gates get up from their seats. The Commissioner rose from his seat and shook their hands and as he was about to exit the room, he turns to Holliday and says with a small smile.

"By the way, Welcome to New York." And with that the Commissioner turns and leaves the room. Holliday turns back to Gates.

"Well, that was welcoming." Holliday states as she gather her belongings. She looks up and sees that Gates still has some questions for her and knows that she's waiting for the right time to ask. So she beats her to it. "Did you have more questions, sir?" She has an idea of what it is but wants to be certain.

"Just one, your contact at the State Department?" Care to tell me who it is?" Gates knows that it was a long shot but wanting to ask anyway.

"All I can tell you, sir is that you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Holliday responds as Gates nods. She knew that she wouldn't have gotten a straight answer, but at least she asked. And now that question is going to be in the back of her mind as well as Holliday's. They two begin to exit the room when Gates speaks again.

"How about you pay Mr. Wood a visit while talk to the DA, State, and Attorney General's office and see what he's willing to give us?" Holliday knew that this was a guy that wasn't going to give in so easily. But she hope that if what she had on him is true, he'll doing anything to save his own life.

Holliday says only one thing before they exited the room. "Let's go then."


	10. Chapter 9

Aftermath Chapter 9

And now the moment you have all been waiting for.

I still don't own Castle.

The first thing he notice was the smell. Antiseptic, he'd know that scent anywhere. The second was the sound of heart monitor on his right hand side. The third was the fact that Martha and Alexis were sitting on the small couch near the window. He could also see Kate's father pacing back and forth in the room. Then suddenly everything came rushing back to him at once; Caleb Brown, the shootout, him and Beckett bleeding and reaching for each other.

"Kate" quietly says, it was loud enough to get Jim Beckett and Martha's attention which had them running to his bedside.

"Richard, Richard, can you hear us?" Martha grabs Castle's hand and waits for him to open his eyes. Alexis barely moves in her seat, still staying near the window.

"Where's… Kate" He doesn't know where he found the strength to speak but he needed to know that Beckett was alright.

"She's here. She's alright. Everything going to be alright now." Martha let out a breath of relief, hoping that the worst part is over.

Castle looks over and sees his wife laying in the bed next to his. Pale as he has ever seen her. His mind flashed back to the last time she was shot.

"I'll get the doctor." Castle heard Martha say as he laid back down as she tried to relax, at least knowing that Beckett was there next to him. It brought some small comfort

Martha walked in with the doctor, who came right up to her bedside. "Well, hello, Mr. Castle, How are feeling?" He didn't have the energy to roll his eyes at the question. Why would anyone ask that question to a gunshot victim? How exactly did he want him to respond?

"I've been better." he figured at least he would be able to give him some sort of an answer for the time being. The Doctor did the usual checks, made sure the incisions from the surgery were healing nicely and asked a series of questions.

"Well, you seem to be out of the woods, I want to wait a little while longer before I take your wife off of the anesthesia." The doctor explains to Castle as he all he could do right at the moment is sit and listen. Everything hurt he suddenly realized. His shoulder from where he was shot, his back from when he hit the floor. The pain was dull, but it was there and it was throbbing. It was enough to make him uncomfortable, but not enough to have him in agony. He barely heard the doctor, "I'm going to go ahead and let you get some rest, I'll be back in a couple of hours." He groggily watches the doctor leave the room and sees his mother walk over to him.

"Richard, what happened?" Martha practically whispers the question to him, but her demand of an answer was clear. She wanted his version of events, from him and not from anyone else. Castle looked back at his mother, and Jim Beckett standing behind her next to the wall, he just laid there thinking of what had transpired over the last couple of days. He took a breath and did the best he could to tell her and Jim what had happened.

"We didn't know he was there." Castle told them. He went through the morning over and over in his mind. Trying to figure out how they missed the fact that Caleb Brown broke into their apartment. He wondered if they should have spent more time trying to figure out how he had broken in the first time instead waiting in anticipation of the call from the cell phone he gave them. Or maybe that was the point. Brown had them distracted to not ask follow through on the how and just had them focused on the why. "I was thinking… about why Mason would have left Caleb's charred remains to be found… if he had a incinerator in his basement." Castle took another breath, "Next thing I knew... I was on the floor, bleeding and he was standing over me...I remember… Kate shooting...Crawling towards...I thought it was over." All Castle wanted to do was close his eyes and reach out for Beckett's hand. Castle opened his eyes again and looked over a Beckett. Her face was still ghost white and hope that she would be able to wake up soon. He then looked over and spotted Alexis at the window.

Alexis, with tears in her eyes, stared back at her father. Relief just washed over her and she knew that somehow, that he was going to be alright. That they were all going to be alright. Castle motioned for her to come over to the bed and take her hand.

"Dad." was all Alexis could say. She wanted to say so much more, but couldn't find the words. It was his disappearance all over again. She never wanted to worry about if like that ever again.

"I'm still here, Alexis. I'm still here."

Back at the 12th, Ryan and Esposito were looking at the murder board with the picture of the unknown woman in the center of it.

"So what do we know so far?' Esposito states as he walks up to the board. He looks at the photos of the victim, the crime scene, and the women who looks the subject of the suspect's obsession.

"Well, we got a dead guy, with no name, in a parking garage. A bloody apartment for a crime scene, and a woman who is a potential target and we have no idea who she is either." Ryan stated in a frustrating manner. There was usually more to go on by now and there were a lot of prints that were currently backlogged and they were wondering how long it was going to take before they got a hit on anything.

"I've got an ID on our mystery woman." Ellis says as she walks out of the tect room. She has a folder in her hands. "Marlene Saldana, age 27, she is a social media personality. Once I put her image through the search engine, she wasn't that hard to find. I might have ID'd your dead guy in the process." Ellis puts up a photos of Saldana's profile photo and another photo of Saldana with the victim. "From what I've gathered his name is Victor Young. He was Saldana's boyfriend." Esposito took the file from Ellis and looked through it.

"She has an arrest from 2012 for drunken disorderly and assaulting a police officer. Other than that she's clean. Do we know anything about Young?" Ellis handed him another file.

"Another social media influencer, but this guy has a clean record which is why his prints didn't come up in system. I have both of their accounts up on the screen." Esposito nods as he and Ryan walk back into the tech room. Some of the photos on their online accounts matched some of the photos that were all over the suspects wall.

"Some of these were on the wall at the crime scene." Ryan states. Esposito begins to look at the more recent photos that were on their timelines.

"How recent is that last photo?" Esposito asks. Ryan thinking that he knows where he's going with it. Ellis brings up the last photo and enlarges it on the screen. Ellis also brings up the timestamp and location of the photo.

"This was taken this morning on Bedford Street." Just as Ellis was relaying that information another photo of Marlene pops up on her social media feed. A photo of her standing in front of an apartment building smile with the caption '#Victor'smissingout'.

"Wait, can you track where this is coming from?" Esposito asks, Ellis is about to answer as Ryan interrupts.

"She doesn't need to, that's Bedford and Grove. She's in front on Monica and Rachel's apartment building." Ryan grabs the radio. "Have local units put her in protective custody until we get there. Ellis nods as and relays the information to dispatch and Ryan and Esposito are out the door.

"Who's Monica and Rachel?" Esposito asks as the enter the Elevator. Ryan looks at him in shock. Ryan turns to him as the elevator doors close.

"You're kidding, right?"

Ryan and Esposito exit the car and walked towards the other squad cars that were parked. Ryan continues to look at Esposito in disbelief.

"I can't believe that you've never seen an episode of Friends. That's just not possible." Esposito was doing his best to ignore his partner's statement.

"I had better things to do at time. Besides, who would actually remember the streets signs of an apartment of a TV Show?" Esposito, in a way, was not really surprised that Ryan knew that little bit of detail. It just might have saved Marlene's life.

"That piece of information got me first place at trivia night a while back." Ryan says happily. He won three hundred dollar that night. Both detectives walk towards the uniformed officers.

"Excuse me, Miss Saldana? We're detective Ryan and Esposito. We were hoping to ask you a few questions in regards to Victor Young?"

"Victor? I haven't seen him all morning." She starts to say when Ryan's phone chimes. He takes the phone out of his pocket and reads the email that he was sent as Esposito continues to talk to the victim.

"I'm sorry Miss Saldana, but Victor Young was found dead this morning as a result of a homicide." Esposito begins to explain.

"Homicide? I just talked…" A slight sob escapes her mouth as she tries to take a breath. "What...happened?" The words are almost a whisper outside on the street, but Esposito and heard the phrase a thousand times to know what she's asking.

"That's what we are trying to determine at the moment. Can you think of anyone that might want to hurt him? " Is the next question Esposito asked.

Marlene take a few slow breaths before she answers the question. "Where do I start? We're on social media. We get threats and complaints all the time. People just like to be trolls and talk trash. We never really take any of them seriously." Ryan turns back to Esposito and Marlene and hold up the phone to the two of them.

"Got a hit on the prints in the apartment." Ryan says. He show Marlene a photo on the screen. The picture of a thirty-something-year-old male with a discolored birthmark on the right side of his face. "Do you recognized this man?" Marlene looks at the picture on the phone. Almost willing herself to remember, knowing she has to push aside her grief for a moment and do what she can to help.

"He looks familiar…" She starts to say, blinking back tears. She stares at the picture again, knowing that she's seen this person's face before. That's when it hits her. "Wait… that's the guy that bumped into us at the Museum."

"Are you sure?" Ryan asks. He then pulls up the information that Ellis sent him. His name is Toby Wilder he goes by the username '4orce2love37'." Marlene's eyes widen at the sound of the username.

"Does that name sound familiar to you?" Esposito asks. Trying not to show too much relief that they are finally catches a break.

"I got a lot of messages from this guy and Victor and I just blocked him. He somehow got around them. We reported him to the site and they deactivated his account." Marlene tells them. Wondering if this guy would really go that far?

"We found evidence of foul play in his apartment earlier today. Miss Saldana, I think it would be in your best interest if you're in protective custody." Ryan tells her. They already have a BOLO out on Toby Wilder and it would only be a matter of time before we apprehend him. Marlene nods as the detectives begin to usher her to their car. As the walk closer to the vehicle, Ryan talks to Esposito. "We need to start a canvas of the area before-"

The next thing they hear is a gunshot and the back window of a squad car is shot out. With guns drawn, Ryan and Esposito turn and see Toby Wilder, who is armed with a high powered rifle.


	11. Chapter 10

Here is the next chapter, will be posting one more for this story and then on to the next episode. Disclaimer, I do not own Castle, I am only borrowing the characters for my own entertainment.

Aftermath Chapter 10

"Put it down, Wilder!" Esposito shouts as he, Ryan, and several other officers have their guns drawn and aimed at their suspect. With the way this day started, this was not how they wanted it to end.

"No! I can't do that!" Wilder shouts at the top of his lungs. All he wants is for her to understand, for all of them to understand.

"Why do they all say that?" Ryan mumbles under his breath. Esposito just rolls his eyes at the comment. They have Marlene on the floor of the car, with her head down. There was no way that he was going to get out of this.

"Wilder, look around you. There are cops everywhere, there is no way this is going to end well for you." Esposito shouts, he doesn't want to do this, not today. He doesn't want any more bled sheed today. The last 24 hours have been a nightmare and he, along with Ryan just want the damn thing to be over with.

Wilder stands in front of Ryan and Esposito the weapon point at the car. The detective see the desperation in his eyes. Ryan and Esposito knew that they were going to have to shoot this guy. That's when it happened, the police baton flew out of nowhere and hit Wilder in the wrist, successfully knocking the rifle out of his hands. The next thing they knew, Wilder was being taken down by small, blonde, feisty officer, then being joined by two more. Ryan and Esposito watched as Wilder was being read his Miranda rights and getting handcuffed. The taller officers led Wilder away to another vehicle and Ryan went to check on Marlene. Esposito walked over to the blonde officer.

"Hey, Janko. That was a hell of a chance that you took back there. What were you thinking?" Esposito wants to be mad, he tries to look it, but he's just glad nobody else got hurt.

Officer Eddie Janko stands and turns around to face Esposito, "I saw an opening and I took it. I wasn't going to let him take half a dozen cops with him." She uses all of her 5'4'' height to size up against him. He's got about seven inches on her and she not intimidated by him in the slightest.

"Still, you're lucky no one else took a shot at him." Esposito admires Janko's effort, she's a force that to be reckoned with.

"I figured the day we've had, we should end the day on a good note." Janko states as Esposito's phone goes off. He nods at Janko as she walks over to her squad car and Esposito looks at the message on his phone.

"Hey, Ryan!" Ryan looks over as another officer escorts Marlene to another car. "Castle's awake."

Mason Wood is being escorted down the hallway of county lockup, shackled like the monster he is. The guards that escorting him to the interrogation room show no emotion as marched down the hallway with him. They know what he's been charged with, they no what he's done. Mason knows he's screwed, he made too many enemies over the years, but at least he gets to take Beckett and Castle out with him. He imagines that one of Beckett's superiors waiting on the other side of the door, there to tell him that Beckett and her husband are dead. Jkhj

Or so he thinks.

The guards open the door and he's surprised to find Holliday sitting in the room next to his attorney instead of Deputy Chief Gates. He was expecting a few things today, one of them was not a woman in her mid thirties sitting at the table with a pair of glasses, reading a file. The guards place Mason down in the chair in front and cuff him to the chair. The guards stand behind him by the door.

"Mr. Wood, glad you could join me." Holliday says as she removes her glasses. Part of her is slightly amused at his situation, someone who used to be so powerful now shackled to a chair in a jumpsuit. "My name is Lt. Holliday and -"

"I've advised my client to not say anything for the time being. Not unless there's a deal." Mason had a bit of a smug look on his face. Holliday puts the folder down and removes her glasses.

"Counselor, I'm not looking for your client to say anything; he's only here to listen." Holliday turns to look at Mason Wood. "There is no deal, Mr. Wood, we have every piece of intel that you already have and I also took the liberty of vacating everyone on your payroll. If you like i can put some of them in the surrounding cells to keep you company. At, least until you're transferred to a federal facility and charged with capital murder." Holliday waited to see if Mason would give any reaction, she didn't think he would, but there was a slight drop in his face. If you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't have found it.

"And who have I murder that would require me to be charged with a federal crime, Lt. Holliday?" Wood asks as his lawyer is putting a hand on his shoulder, as if that was going to calm him down. She can see the anger rising in him. It's subtle, but it's there. The slight shifting in the chair, the twisting of his wrist in the cuffs, she's starting to get to him.

"That would be Assistant AG Allison Hyde and CIA Supervisory Operative Joseph Wyatt." She sees Wood's nose start to flare. You do realize that the Attorney General is going to want your head for killing one of his own people and making it look like a suicide." Holliday tells him.

"You can't prove that!" He raises his voice just a little bit. He's agitated, not she just needs to get him on the ropes.

"Can't prove what, Mr. Wood? That you killed an Assistant AG and framed her? That you were CIA? Or the fact that you killed your commanding officer?" Holliday sees Wood's face getting red. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that smoke would be coming out of his ears. That would be a sight to see. "I can and I have." Holliday takes out another folder and places it in front of Wood and his lawyer. Every file that Vikram and Ellis had put together in the last few hours was on full display in front of Wood and his lawyer. To say that he was shocked was an understatement.

"How the hell did you get these?" Wood demanded. Wood was getting ready to blow his top and there was nothing that his lawyer could do to keep him from doing so.

"With a court order and an encryption key." Holliday stated. She had him and he knew it. "I'm former Navy Intelligence, Mr. Wood. Did you actually think I wasn't going to be able to figure this out? You're finished. You, your associates, your contacts...your son." That got his attention.

"He didn't survived his murder attempt on Captain Beckett and her husband. Turns out she's a better shot than he was." Wood jumps and struggles in his seat and is pulled down by his shackles. Holliday calmly puts the files away, knowing that she's finally put this bastard in his place and pissed him off was enough. "And one more thing…" She puts the files back in her bag and stands to leave, but leans into his ear to whisper one final strike to his ego. "Jackson and Rita Hunt send their regards." It was a statement that made his blood run cold. Adn with the satisfaction of that final statement, Holliday walked out the room.


	12. Chapter 11

_Okay ladies and gentlemen, here is the final chapter of my story. Thank you for hanging in there with me. Spelling mistakes and all._

 ** _Castle is still not mine_**

Aftermath chapter 11

Holliday stepped off of the the elevator of the 12th and was walking towards the bullpen. She sees Esposito sitting with a young woman and Ryan on the computer. Esposito nods to the young woman as she leaves with another officers. He looks up and makes eye contact with Holiday.

"I heard you guys had a standoff. Everyone is alright I presume." From what she heard today, she's surprised that the incident didn't make the evening news.

"We got lucky, that's for sure. Listen, Lieutenant I just want to…" Esposito starts, but Holliday interrupts him.

"Don't worry about it. I've been on the other side of the situation. Don't worry about it." She knows the feeling, knows what it's like when someone comes in out of nowhere and start issuing orders. Especially after a tragic event. At least this one had a better outcome at the end of it. Esposito nods his head in understanding. Ryan gets up from his desk and heads over to Esposito.

"Well, Dr. Holloway is going to evaluate our suspect to see if he's even fit to stand trial." Ryan tells them. " And Marlene 's on her way to ID Victor Young's body. His family is meeting her at the morgue."

"I'll let Dr. Morgan know that they are on their way." Holliday states. She see the look on their face and sees the unasked question in their expressions. It's been a long day for all of them, so she decides to give them a break. "In the meantime, why don't you guys go and check on your Captain and her husband. I hear they're both awake."

The two detectives nod and begin to leave. Silently grateful that if they have to have someone else to temporarily take the reins, it is someone who understands. As Ryan and Esposito walk out of the bullpen, Office Janko walks in with her partner. Still seated in front of Esposito's desk, Holliday calls out to her as she stands.

"Officer Janko, can I see you in the Captain's office?" She knew better than to say her office. She's not here to take over, she's here to steer the ship. Janko follows Holliday into the office as she closes the door.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" Janko already knew what this was about. She already got a stern talking to by her partner. She wasn't sure if she could really handle being yelled at by the new commander.

Holliday looks at janko and then quickly glances out the window and sees her partner looking back. She already knows that she already got an earful from her partner. He seems like the overly protective type.

"Did you get your batton back?" The question through Janko for a second before she responded.

"Yes, Lieutenant. I did." Still wondering where Holliday was going with this.

"Just making sure." Holliday goes over and sits on the desk. "Between you and me, I would have aimed for his face. Keep up the good work."

Janko nods "Thank you, Lieutenant." Janko really wasn't expecting that. Holliday dismisses her and Janko exits, leaving the door open as Holliday faces the window, staring at the unfamiliar skyline. She wonders what else the city has instore for her when she noticed a familiar presence standing in the doorway.

"Enjoying the view?" Rita asks as she slowing walks into the office. She can still feel Beckett's presence in the room. She knew her mother would show up sooner or later. She was hoping that she would get a bit of a break before though.

"Getting used to it." Holliday started. "It's not LA." It was her home for the longest time, and it wasn't like it was her choice to leave. She was lucky to escape with her life after her last assignment.

"Came back for a debriefing?" Holliday turns around and sits on the corner of the desk, she knew what her mother was here for.

"And to check up on you. Whether you believe it or not, Josephine, I do care about your well being." Rita really does, but it's hard to be a mother when you're trying to keep government secrets safe and foreign governments are constantly after you.

"I know, this is just going to take some getting used to." Holliday hoped that would be the truth. "I know I was born here, but it doesn't feel like home." She had a feeling that she was going to be spending a lot of late night here, keeping her mind occupied with something other than a homesickness that she hope will fade.

"How was your meeting with Mason Wood?" Rita came inside and closed the door. The other reason for her visit, Holliday knew her too well. Back to business as usual and this was no time for prying ears.

"He's not getting out, and I had him put on suicide watch after I told him you and dad said hello. And with the information that we got from the encryption, everyone else involved is now being locked away. How's the Agency dealing with all this?"

"Well, it not like that can hide anything anymore. Wood was one of ours. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, he put money and greed before country." Rita replied.

"He really thought he was going to get away with it, didn't he?" Holliday was still wrapping her head around this whole conspiracy. She looked at the evidence when they decrypted all of Wood's files and realized how many people were involved in this thing. There were over sixty arrests made in the last forty-eight hours, and it was her job at the moment to make sure that every single one of those charges stick and everyone goes away for a very long time.

"He's own arrogance was his own undoing, in the end." Rita knew Wood for a long time. Or at least she thought she did, after updating her husband on everything they were both wondering why and how was Wood able to hide this for so long. The longer she thought about it some of the other pieces started to fit together better. Everyone at the Agency was probably kicking themselves right now for not seeing it sooner, or if at all. And this was too big of a spectacle for them not to acknowledge it.

"Serves him right." Holliday saw the look on her mother's face and realizes that Wood, at one point in time, was a colleague, a friend. And in her business those very hard to come by. "So where are you going next?" Holliday knew her mother really couldn't stay long, she never could. That's been the norm since she was twelve-years-old.

"I'll be heading back to Langley, debriefing the joint chiefs. They might want to have a word with you soon." More debriefings than she wanted to count, the work never ends.

"Well, they know where to find me. I'm not going anywhere." Holliday acknowledged. Rita then slowly crossed the room and hugged her daughter. Something else that doesn't happen it her family. Holliday accepts the hug because she knows these come few and far in between. So she takes them when she can.

"I let you when I get there, okay." Rita pulls back from the embrace. Holliday nods as she releases her mother from the hold. Holliday watches as her mother begins to exit the room. "I know you'll do good work here, Jo. You're incapable of doing anything else." Rita says with a smile as she leaves.

Holliday nods with a small smile and turns back to the window as soon as her mother is out of her field of view. Thinking back on the last twenty-four hours was enough to make anyone's head spin, but not hers. That's what made her so good at her job, her ability to turn chaos into order in record time was something that few people could do. Now there was one thing left to do now.

It felt like the dead of night when she woke up again, the sounds and smells of the hospital always made it hard to sleep. It was a problem the last time she was here recovering from a gunshot wound. The pain meds that they had her on made it hard to focus and stay awake. She was trying her best earlier to stay awake when the boys and Lanie came by. She was trying her best to smile at Castle to let him and everyone know that she was fine. But, she knew that the recovery time was going to be brutal and now she had Castle's recovery to worry about as well. Part of her almost wanted to isolate herself from everyone like she did the last time, but she knew she couldn't do that again. She couldn't do that to herself, she couldn't do that to Castle.

She turned her head to see him sound asleep in the bed next to her. She wanted to beg for forgiveness for even getting him involved in this whole thing,but she knew he would say that it wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault that people kept breaking in and entering their home, she was trying to focus and think about how to increase their home security when she felt another presence in the room.

"Good, you're awake." Holliday walked in slowly and closed the door. Holliday walked over to the foot Beckett's hospital bed. "I didn't want this to be a wasted trip." Beckett looked at the woman who was currently standing at the foot of her bed. Her brain searching for any indication of who she is, and then a thought came through her clouded mind.

"You must be Holliday." She finally deduced, and a little surprised. "I was expecting someone a little older." The boys had mentioned her during their visit and they never mentioned the Lieutenant's age. But it definitely explained why Esposito was a little hesitate when Ryan brought the subject up. The only thing that she was able to read off of them was the fact that she was very good at her job, and just filling in.

"Funny, so was I." Holliday smirked back. She knew that she was going to get a lot of questions about her rank and age, but she wasn't going to worry about it now.

"How are you feeling, Captain?" Holliday asked as she move around to the side on the bed. She glanced over to the other person in the bed next to Beckett, who was sound asleep. Holliday recognized Castle from his book jacket. There was something else familiar about him, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. Holliday's attention went right back to Beckett.

"Like I've been shot… again." Becket started to feel the pain meds beginning to wear off. She just hoped that she could ignore the pain until the end of this conversation.

"I would have stopped by earlier, but I had to finish up the final report for the DA and the State Attorney's office." Holliday began as she moved a little closer to the chair at side of the bed. That's when Beckett noticed the case file in her hand. Holliday sat down as she handed the file to her. " Forty-seven arrests; that's including Captain Ziering and about ten of his crew members of the RMS Bentley. The Bentley is currently shut down and being searched for more drugs and video surveillance is being recovered. It should take about a week to sweep the entire ship." Holliday handed the file to Beckett.

Beckett gathered all the strength that she had to sit up and look at the file. Holliday managed to find the light over her bed and turn it on. Beckett surprisingly found something of a second wind and began reading through file. All the decrypted file that Vikram found was something of an eye opener for her. All these people, were responsible for nothing be death and destruction of people's lives and families. The only downside was that the man she and Castle knew as Caleb Brown wasn't going to pay for his crimes.

"Looks like everyone here is going away for a long time." Beckett closed the file and handed back to Holliday who was still sitting in the chair next to her. Beckett was finally able to close a huge chapter in her life. Something that she thought was never going to happen. Everyone that she came into contact with in the last eight years, had helped her in ways that she never could imagine. And here was another person to add to that.

"Thank you." It was the only think Beckett could say in the moment.

"Hey, you and your team are the ones who did the heavy lifting on this," Holliday replies. "All I did was help you across the finish line." Beckett nods, winces in pain and Holliday notices. She goes and presses the call button for Beckett as she stands up.

"You should get some rest, Captain. I'll hold down the fort until you get back." Beckett lays back down as Holliday turns the light out and heads towards the door. Beckett quietly calls out to her.

"Holliday… again, thank you." Beckett said slowly as the night nurse entered the room. The nurse gave Holliday a look that said 'you really shouldn't be here right now.

Holliday nods," Anytime. Night, Captain." Beckett mumbles something the nurse looks over her chart as Holliday closes the door.

As Holliday walks towards the elevator, she takes in the day. " Hell of a first day." She says to herself. The doors open and Holliday steps into the elevator. As the doors close, she hopes that everyday at the 12th aren't going to be like this.

The nurse leaves after giving Beckett her meds and she turns to look at the bed next to her. She sees castle wide awake, staring right back at her.

"Hey." It's all she can say at the moment.

"We're still here, Beckett." Castle tells her.

They're still here. Something that she is extremely grateful for. She's been thinking about the last 48 hours, hell, the last eight years. Thinking that she really wouldn't change a single day. She looks at him with a small, sleepy smile.

" I love you, Castle."

"I love you, too, Kate. Always."

THE END

 _I would like to thank everyone who read and followed this story. I know that people had wondered why there was not a lot of Casket in this story, I wanted to bring in a new character and tell this story through their eyes. The next story which I am still outlining will have more of Castle and Beckett and the rest of the 12th. So, no worries. I'll see you guys soon._


End file.
